Key Points

The three-day national conference, ‘CERT-In SAMVAAD 2025,’ began on Monday, aiming to unite information security auditing organisations, regulators, and stakeholders to enhance cybersecurity practices across the nation, the official said.

In his inaugural address, S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), highlighted the importance of collaboration to address evolving cyber threats and strengthen India’s audit ecosystem. He also mentioned that CERT-In’s initiative offers a valuable opportunity for auditing organisations to upgrade practices and share knowledge, contributing to a more cyber-resilient India, said a statement.

Dr. Kamakoti Veezhinathan, Director, IIT-Madras, delivered a brief presentation emphasising the importance of cyber resilience — ensuring the continuity of essential services and safeguards even during adverse situations, particularly in light of the evolving cyber threat landscape targeting Indian organisations across various sectors. He underscored the need for comprehensive architectures, frameworks and models to support cyber resilience programs among diverse stakeholders.

Dr. Veezhinathan appreciated CERT-In’s efforts in organising the conference and expressed hope that the event would significantly contribute to strengthening the capabilities of participating information security auditing organisations and improving overall auditing practices.

The conference organised by CERT-In, in collaboration with SkillsDA, was also attended by Brajendra Navnit, Principal Secretary, Information Technology and Digital Services Department, Government of Tamil Nadu; Dr. N. Subramanian, Executive Director, Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS); and Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General, CERT-In.

The event included a panel discussion on ‘Cybersecurity Audits & Regulatory Expectations: Bridging the Gap’ moderated by S.S. Sarma, Director Operations, CERT-In, with panellists from various regulators. The discussion provided auditing organisations with valuable and actionable insights into regulatory expectations.

The three-day event also promises parallel management and technical tracks, with over 70 presentations that would set the standard for cutting-edge cybersecurity audit practices. The management track would explore key topics such as human factors in auditing, C-suite risk management, governance frameworks and strategies for stakeholder communication.

The technical track would focus on emerging tools for automated audits, securing next-generation technologies (IoT, AI/ML, blockchain, quantum computing), SBOM implementation and innovative approaches to complex and continuous audit environments, including cloud systems, APIs and operational technology.

- IANS