Shri Ajit Doval,KC, National Security Advisor, today inaugurated the National Cyber Security Incident Response Exercise alongside Lt General  Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator  and Dr Satheesh Reddy, Secretary DRDO. National Cyber Exercise (NCX) India will be conducted as a hybrid exercise over a period of ten days from 18 to 29 April 2022 with the aim to train senior management and technical personnel of Government/Critical Sector organisations and agencies on contemporary cyber threats and handling cyber incidents and response.

The program is being conducted by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Govt. of India in association with Data Security Council of India (DSCI) as the Knowledge Partner and supported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The platform for training is being provided by CyberExer Technologies, an Estonian cybersecurity company accredited for globally conducting several large cyber exercises.

More than 140 officials will be trained through training sessions, Live Fire and  Strategic exercises. The participants will be trained on various key cyber security areas such as Intrusion Detection Techniques, Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP), Vulnerability Handling & Penetration Testing, Network Protocols & Data Flows, Digital Forensics, etc.

NCX India will help strategic leaders to better understand cyber threats, assess readiness, and develop skills for cyber crisis management and cooperation. This will also help develop and test cybersecurity skills, teamwork, planning, communication, critical thinking, and decision-making.

Shri Ajit Doval, KC, National Security Advisor, in his keynote address highlighted the Digital Revolution taking place in the country and the launch of a large number of digital services by the Government. He went on to say that Cyber Security remains the foundation of any successful Digital Transformation. Any threats in cyberspace directly impacts our social, economic and National Security and therefore we need to safeguard our Cyberspace.

Lt. General  Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, brought out the importance of Indian cyberspace and the necessity of keeping it secure and safe for the citizens, businesses and Governments. He talked about the increase in Ransomware and Supply Chain attacks taking place in the world and in our country and how it was very vital to achieve synergy amongst all organisations for effectively countering these attacks. He also highlighted the recent ransomware attack on Oil India Limited and the importance of cyber warfare in the global scenario.

Government of India is taking various steps to build capacities and enhance skills in Cyber Security.

***

DS