India’s cybersecurity executives are calling for stronger government policies as the country faces a rise in AI-based threats. At a recent panel discussion organized by Microsoft, industry leaders discussed the need for a dedicated ministry for cybersecurity and cyber defense. Akhilesh Tuteja, the global head of cybersecurity at KPMG India, said that as more of India gets digitized, cybersecurity should be the top priority for the government, the people, and the economic stability of the country.
The event also featured Satvinder Madhok, the global head of cybersecurity operations at Wipro, and Bithal Bhardwaj, group CISO of GMR Group. It was moderated by Irina Ghose, the managing director of Microsoft India and South Asia. While the rise of generative AI has led to its exploitation by threat actors, tech giants like Microsoft are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance security in their products and for their customers.
Ghose said that Microsoft’s Copilot for Security, an AI-driven cross-stack solution unveiled in 2023, enables defenders to shift their security posture from reactive to proactive. Tuteja added that one of the key benefits of AI in cybersecurity is improving the signal-to-noise ratio, allowing security teams to focus on critical threats.
India’s AI-based cyber threat response
Bhardwaj noted that AI could generate reports and summaries of cybersecurity incidents, thus saving analysts a significant amount of time. Madhok emphasized that the government should create a framework that builds trust in security systems and encourages safe adoption of digital technologies. He noted that an updated National Cyber Security Policy (NCSP) has been in the works for four years.
Panelists also discussed collaboration among defenders to counter the increasing collaboration among hackers. Tuteja pointed out that defenders are often more reluctant to share information about attacks due to embarrassment or fear of reputational damage. Last year, the US Cyber Safety Review Board found that Microsoft’s security culture needed an overhaul.
Subsequently, CEO Satya Nadella announced the Secure Future Initiative (SFI), involving over 34,000 full-time Microsoft engineers aimed at improving the company’s cybersecurity strategy. Ghose outlined the three principles of SFI: secure by design, secure by default, and secure in operations. She highlighted figures from the company’s latest Digital Defense Report, indicating a rise in the number of password attacks to 7,000 per day this year compared to 579 in 2021, with six million identity attacks happening every day.
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