Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery , Geo Focus: Asia , Geo-Specific

Mumbai Cybersecurity Summit: Focusing on Resilience, Privacy

ISMG's Cybersecurity Summit: Mumbai kicked off Wednesday amid a packed audience, with cybersecurity leaders stressing the importance of cyber resilience and aligning their processes with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act.

See Also: On Demand | Defining a Detection & Response Strategy

During his plenary session, Jaspal Singh Sawhney, chief information security and privacy officer of Tata Communications discussed the steps organizations should take to make their systems and processes compliant with the soon-to-be-enforced DPDP Act.

Decision-makers need to have comprehensive oversight on what personal data is being processed and where it resides and must have strong policies and processes to help with the implementation of security safeguards, according to Sawhney.

"Getting oversight on all personal data being processed is a time-consuming exercise and requires significant support from all business units and stakeholders," he said. "Privacy implementation team has to be multi-stakeholder. This is where corporate buy-in and support at highest levels is critical."

He said security leaders should also raise awareness on privacy regulatory requirements and the reputational risks involved. While programs will take time to reach maturity, the best approach to bring about a tangible change is to bring about a change in people's attitude toward privacy and to use the behavioral aspects to modify existing processes.

Sawhney's insightful plenary was followed by a riveting keynote speech by retired Air Vice Marshal Devesh Vatsa, who currently serves as an advisor on cybersecurity and critical technologies at the Data Security Council of India.

Vatsa detailed the ways an organization can ensure round-the-clock cyber resilience and continue business operations with little or no downtime. "Effective cyber resilience must be an enterprise-wide risk-based strategy, a collaborative approach driven from executives to everyone in the organization, partners, supply chain participants and customers," he said.

Vatsa explained that building effective cyber resilience requires organizations to develop a clear understanding of data ownership and incident management protocols. He underscored the need for experienced leadership to implement proper governance and risk management practices.

"To build truly cyber-resilient organizations, enterprise security leadership must embrace a comprehensive approach that includes strategic planning, cross-departmental collaboration, continuous education, proactive risk management, investment in technology and human resources, and embedding resilience into business models," Vatsa said.

"By addressing these areas, organizations can better prepare for the inevitable cyberthreats they will face in the future."