Cybersecurity needs to be one of India’s topmost priorities for long term growth: Leaders at Microsoft’s ‘Future of Security’ Roundtable

As we navigate an increasingly complex, boundaryless hybrid world, cybersecurity has never been more critical. With cyberattacks growing in size, scale and sophistication, cybersecurity becomes mission-critical for protecting individuals, businesses, and governments.

Against this backdrop, and as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Microsoft hosted a Future of Security curated dialogue with industry experts, on building India’s cyber resilience. Terence Gomes, Country Head – Security, Microsoft India, was in conversation with Seema Khanna, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Government of India, Rama Vedashree, Former CEO, Data Security Council of India (DSCI), and Satish Kumar Dwibhashi, SVP and CISO, InMobi, on the evolution of the cybersecurity landscape and the need for public-private partnerships to protect India at scale.

Trust in technology, need for stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors, driving consumer awareness, and the role of secure, trusted, ethical tech in driving innovation for India were some of the topics that were discussed.

Anchoring these discussions, Microsoft shared its commitment to building a trusted tech ecosystem in the country, making available the technology and threat intelligence expertise required to protect against cyber threats.

 

Key excerpts from the discussion:

Trust in technology

Seema Khanna: “Trust in technology cannot work in silos, they go hand-in-hand. Earning trust is easy, but we only get one shot at it. Both as government and industry, we must navigate earning the trust from users. For this, we need to have an enabling framework for services. Security must be by design and every service we provide needs to be built with trust, especially in the hybrid world.”

Satish Kumar Dwibhashi: “We are living in a digital world. So, digital trust is a necessity. It is no longer a choice, but imperative in today’s world.”

Rama Vedashree: “We need to take a step back and acknowledge how much has moved to digital now. Digital technologies are now being used for very personal, very sensitive information. This is exactly why trust in technology is receiving so much…