SEBI officials highlight AI's role in reshaping cybersecurity threats for the securities market, calling it a 'contest of persistence'. They stress the need for continuous vigilance, resilience, and specialised skills to combat sophisticated attacks.

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is reshaping the cybersecurity threat landscape, making continuous vigilance, stronger resilience and specialised skills critical for securities market participants, senior officials said at SEBI's Cyber Defence Symposium being held at the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM).

'Contest of Persistence'

Addressing the symposium, Avneesh Pandey, Executive Director at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said cybersecurity should not be viewed merely as a defensive strategy but as a "contest of persistence", as adversaries continuously probe systems and return with faster and more sophisticated tools. He said cybersecurity professionals need to remain agile and operate with alacrity 24x7, 365 days, particularly as organisations face AI threats, geopolitical volatility and supply-chain vulnerabilities.

Pandey said SEBI's Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience Framework (CSCRF) for regulated entities is fundamentally built around resilience, but AI-led attack vectors are challenging existing cybersecurity frameworks. With AI 'supercharging the cyber arms race', the technology is simultaneously strengthening defensive capabilities and enabling increasingly sophisticated attacks, he said.

Uneven Capabilities a Major Vulnerability

He also flagged uneven cybersecurity capabilities across the market ecosystem, with differences in skills, resources, digital infrastructure and governance competencies leaving some organisations struggling to maintain even basic levels of cybersecurity. Such gaps, he said, could create vulnerabilities extending across interconnected supply chains.

International Symposium on Cyber Defence

The five-day symposium, aimed at junior- to mid-level securities professionals, brings together participants from 15 international jurisdictions. The programme includes intensive classroom sessions, a Capture the Flag competition, an industry track on emerging cybersecurity trends such as incident reporting, AI, quantum and blockchain, as well as tabletop exercises for chief information security officers and an exhibition of cybersecurity solutions.

NISM to Bolster Cybersecurity Capacity

Sashi Krishnan, Director, NISM, said the institute is working to strengthen cybersecurity capacity through an immersive lab, greater awareness and upskilling employees for cybersecurity and compliance roles. He said NISM is also launching a cybersecurity and cyber resilience certification in GIFT IFSC at basic and advanced levels.

The certification is intended to cover areas including security operations centre (SOC) operations, threat detection, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT), cybersecurity audits, incident detection, cyber resilience, business continuity, disaster recovery, third-party risk management and regulatory reporting. Krishnan said the initiative could serve as a model for other regulators and urged cybersecurity experts to review the freely available course content and provide feedback to make it more relevant to the securities market ecosystem. (ANI)

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