Centre moves against unprecedented AI-powered cybersecurity threats; FM chairs high-level meeting with banks

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to assess emerging cyber threats in the country linked to artificial intelligence (AI). Discussions at the meeting spanned areas such as the potential exploitation of software vulnerabilities.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw participated in the meeting, which also saw the presence of chiefs of leading banks in the country, the DFS Secretary Sanjay Bahl, and senior officials from the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payments Corporation of India.

Praising the work done by banks in strengthening cybersecurity systems and protocols, the finance minister noted that the nature of the emerging threat from the latest AI model is unprecedented and requires a very high degree of vigilance, preparedness and better coordination across financial institutions and banks.

Noting that threats arising from new AI models are unprecedented, Sitharaman advised banks to onboard top cyber security experts and agencies.

At the meeting, industry body Indian Banks' Association was directed to develop a coordinated mechanism to ensure that banks report any suspicious activity or cyber incident promptly to relevant authorities, with an emphasis on continuously strengthening security and monitoring systems in the country.

Lenders were also instructed to maintain coordination with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) -- the national nodal agency under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) -- along with other agencies to ensure the protection of customer data and financial resources.

Established in 2004 to handle cyber security threats, the agency operates 24X7 to issue security alerts, coordinate incident responses and secure the country's cyberspace.

The finance minister also asked banks to develop a real-time threat intelligence sharing system and to enable a faster exchange of information with related agencies.