India must build resilient software and hardware systems to withstand cyber threats: MeitY Secretary

"We have to ensure that overall digital governance, including AI governance, accords due primacy to both cyber security and operational resilience. Ultimately, we have to create resilient systems, both in terms of software and hardware, which can continue to operate despite the cybersecurity threats, because that is where the crux of ease of living and ease of doing business lies," Krishnan said while addressing the launch of the Digital Threat Report 2025-26: From Frontline Intelligence to Collective Foresight.

Highlighting the importance of cybersecurity, Krishnan said digitisation has yielded significant benefits by reducing friction in transactions, making them faster and making life easier.

At the same time, he cautioned that these gains have also brought cyber risks to the forefront, making cybersecurity one of the most important concerns if the country is to preserve the benefits of digitisation.

He said cyber threats operate at three levels. At the individual level, cybercrime can result in financial and reputational losses. At the organisational level, ransomware and other malicious attacks can seek to cripple operations. At the national level, cyberattacks target governments and government infrastructure and, at that scale, "it also becomes almost like warfare."

Krishnan said that different arms of the government have different responsibilities in addressing cyber threats. While the Ministry of Home Affairs primarily deals with cybercrime affecting individuals, the protection of government infrastructure and national security involves multiple agencies, with MeitY and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) playing key coordinating roles.

Krishnan said Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating new cybersecurity risks but is also enabling defenders to counter attacks by malicious actors more effectively. He said using AI effectively and acting faster will be critical to strengthening the country's cyber defences.

He also stressed that awareness and constant vigilance remain the foundation of an effective cybersecurity framework.

"I think it's important that this report, and what it entails, highlights that awareness is the critical element, that people are repeatedly reminded that they need to act on this, it is something where they cannot lose focus, and it is constant vigilance, which is the underlying principle in cyber security. Therefore, we have to treat cyber security as an enterprise-wide system of risk, against which they need to constantly guard," he said.

Krishnan further stressed the need to strengthen identity and access management to secure digital accounts and systems. He also called for building domestic AI and cybersecurity capabilities, including models, data, infrastructure and technological capacity.

"In this particular space, there is no other option but to build domestic capacity," he said.

Congratulating the organisers on the launch of the Digital Threat Report 2025-26, Krishnan said the publication is intended to encourage enterprises and organisations across the country to study its findings, identify the cyber threats relevant to them, remain alert and strengthen resilience so that, despite evolving cyber threats, business operations continue without disruption. (ANI)