In a move that signals India’s shift from reactive cybersecurity to proactive cyber defense, the government on Friday said it is considering a new legal framework for cybersecurity amid increasing cyber threats using artificial intelligence.
“With AI becoming the norm, the nature of cyber threats is going to totally change…We also have to create a new legal framework for cybersecurity with all these challenges that we are facing today,” Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters at the launch of AI & Cyber Threat Research Center at the India AI summit in New Delhi.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and US-based cloud security company Zscaler launched the research center to advance national cyber resilience, protecting sectors, industries and assets that are essential to India’s economic and national security. The AI and Cybersecurity center will also partner with government agencies to neutralize and prevent cyber-attacks. It will drive the adoption of modern security frameworks, with a specific focus on AI-driven defences.
Another focus will be to strengthen the cybersecurity talent pipeline.
While Vaishnaw did not share details, he urged IT companies and telecom operators to seriously consider new ways to counter cyber threats and to align with the government.
“I am sure more and more people will join. We have already received interest from many other enterprises in the country. It will be more like a lot of give back in the area of philanthropy or CSR that we do from our (Airtel) side in terms of the investment that is required in infrastructure,” Bharti Enterprises founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal told reporters.
Mittal added that Airtel’s contribution to the initiative would be granting the research center access to its vast network infrastructure and connected nodes across India. The same will be used to detect and respond to incoming threats, he said.
Data-driven sovereignty
As part of the initiative, Zscaler will deploy a specialized threat research team focused on India. Airtel will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, collaborating with Zscaler to monitor networks and develop new solutions, enabling faster identification of suspicious activity and more effective coordination with ecosystem stakeholders.
Experts said the launch of the center and discussions on a new legal framework for cybersecurity align with India’s broader ambitions for digital sovereignty and the adoption of trusted AI, but there is a need to first understand AI incidents and protect enterprises and citizens from them.
“We need significant and diversified investment in research on all aspects of AI threats that may emerge. There is a need to clearly understand and prepare a taxonomy of AI incidents, reporting them, and protecting against the same,” said Dhruv Garg, partner at the Indian Governance and Policy Project (IGAP).
According to Garg, a lot of context is needed around AI for security, security for AI, and secured AI systems to develop and operate safe systems and to establish a regulatory framework. This context must exist at all levels—individual, enterprise, sectoral and national.
According to Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, millions of infiltration attempts each month, including notable campaigns, have been observed. It has witnessed a nation-state cyber espionage activity using the theme of regional geopolitical tension, which attempted to target multiple Indian entities. Further, there has been a surge in attempts to infiltrate India’s private and public sectors, with 1.2 million intrusion attempts originating from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, according to the research.
“With the AI & Cyber Threat Research Center – India, we will bring the full power of the world’s largest security cloud to protect the nation’s public and private sectors,” said Jay Chaudhry, CEO, chairman, and founder, Zscaler. “By combining actionable intelligence from over 500 billion daily transactions with local expertise, we aren’t just building readiness; we are empowering a new generation of defenders to stay ahead of the adversary,” he added.
