Jammu and Kashmir government organises state-level Cybersecurity workshop

The workshop was conducted by the Department of Information Technology Jammu & Kashmir, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, in collaboration with the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.

The workshop is titled “CCMP Workshop and Cybersecurity Exercise” at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.

The workshop was conducted June 16 and June 17.

 The program was aimed at enhancing cyber resilience across departments of the Union Territory by equipping senior officers, including Administrative Secretaries, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) / Information Security Officers (ISOs), and nodal officers from various government departments, with essential cybersecurity knowledge and hands-on crisis response planning.

The inaugural session was graced by Satish Sharma, Minister of Information Technology, Government of J&K.

He emphasized the critical importance of cybersecurity in the current digital governance landscape and lauded the initiative as a key milestone towards ensuring secure and reliable citizen services delivery.

Piyush Singla, IAS, Secretary to the Government, IT Department, delivered the welcome address and highlighted in the present digital age, robust cybersecurity is not just a technical need — it’s a pillar of good governance and public trust.

He further encouraged the participants to commit to building resilient systems and a cyber-aware workforce to safeguard citizens and institutions.

A keynote address was delivered bySaurabh Bhagat, IAS, Commissioner/Secretary, FCS&CA, focusing on the evolving cybersecurity ecosystem and the need for proactive and preventive strategies.

He further highlighted the importance of inter-departmental cooperation for effective e-governance and encouraged officers to become cyber warriors by enhancing their existing knowledge and skills and participating and conducting more training exercises.                                                                                                                           

The sessions included interactive presentations, policy insights, and hands-on exercises to promote practical understanding of cybersecurity frameworks and institutional preparedness.

Participants actively engaged in discussions around cyber threat landscapes and departmental response strategies.

The workshop concluded with a Valedictory Ceremony featuring a special address by Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General, CERT-In, who congratulated all participants for their active participation and emphasized the need to shift from reactive cybersecurity to proactive cyber resilience, focusing on rapid recovery while maintaining essential operations during cyber crisis.

He highlighted the importance of implementing the Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP), regular training, exercises, drills programs and on-boarding organizations to various CERT-In initiatives.

The closing remarks were delivered by Dr. Piyush Singla, IAS, and the vote of thanks was presented by Mahima Madan, IAS, CEO, JaKeGA.

This capacity building initiative aligns with the national mission of Digital India and addresses the growing need for secure digital infrastructure in light of recent cyber incidents.

It also supports the broader goal of creating a digitally empowered administration and improving citizen trust in government IT systems.