Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative was conceptualised with the mission to spread awareness about cyber-crime and build capacities of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials, across all government departments, for ensuring adequate safety measures to combat the growing menace, and for organizations to defend their digital infrastructures and become future-ready in tackling cyber-attacks.

Operating on the principles of awareness, education and enablement, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), under its Capacity Building scheme, organised the 30^th CISO Deep-Dive training programme from August 22-26, 2022. Held at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi, the intensive 5-day training programme was designed for designated CISOs from Central and State/UT Governments, subordinate agencies/PSUs, including public sector banks and insurance companies, technical wings of police and security forces, CTOs and members of technical/PMU teams; as well as officers responsible to observe security of IT systems in their respective organisations.

The deep-dive training specifically aimed at educating and enabling CISOs to understand cyber-attacks comprehensively and thoroughly, get necessary exposure in latest technologies of safeguard, and translate the benefits of a resilient e-infrastructure to individual organizations and citizens at large. The training also focussed on providing a holistic view of legal provisions, enabling CISOs to formulate policies in the domain of cyber security and build concrete cyber crisis management plans.

The inaugural session of the programme was attended by eminent dignitaries - Shri Abhishek Singh, P&CEO, NeGD, Shri S.N. Tripathi, DG, IIPA, graced the occasion. Stressing upon the importance of cyber security in the present scenario of growing cyber-attacks, Shri Tripathi encouraged CISO officers to think innovatively and futuristically while supporting cyber security endeavours of their organisations. In his address, Shri Abhishek Singh insisted on the need of robust cyber security conduct at an individual level, and requested all CISO participants for use of properly licensed software. He also reminded them of various GOI initiatives in the said domain, particularly highlighting the very responsive National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to address potential cyber threats on critical infrastructure.

The training programme brought together an array of subject matter experts from the industry, the academia and the government to speak on key domain issues of cyber security, such as, Governance Risk and Compliance, Emerging Cyber Security Trends, Landscape of Cyber Security Products in India, Network Security, Cyber Crisis Workplace Plan, Application and Data Security, Cloud Security, Mobile Security, Cryptography, Cyber Security Testing and Audit, Cyber Security related Provisions of IT Act and ISMS Standards including ISO 27001. An interactive presentation session by towards the programme’s culmination by participants enabled learnings from one another.

Launched in 2018, the CISO training is the first-of-its-kind of partnership between the Government and industry consortium under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Since June 2018, these programmes have capacitated 1,224 senior officials to secure digital infrastructure and systems of their respective organizations.

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RKJ/M