Sebi sets up panel on safeguarding capital markets from cyber attacks

Regulator Sebi has set-up a high-level panel on cyber security to suggest measures to safeguard the capital markets from such attacks.

The four-member committee would be chaired by Madhabi Puri Buch, whole time member at Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The other members are S V Murali Dhar Rao, Executive Director at Sebi; Sanjay Bahl, Director General at Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and H Krishnamurthy, Principle Research Scientist at IISC Bangalore, as per the latest update with Sebi.

The panel will oversee and provide overall guidance on cyber security initiatives to Sebi and for the entire capital market. Besides, it will advise Sebi in developing and maintaining cyber security and cyber resilience requirements aligned with global best practices and industry standards in accordance with the need of Indian capital market structure.

It will also identify measures to improve cyber resilience and related business continuity and disaster recovery process in Indian securities market.

The committee will study major cyber-attack incidents related to financial markets in domestic and global markets and identify gaps in the existing cyber security and cyber resilience framework.

Besides, it will periodically review the mandate and functioning of Security Operations Centers and will guide Sebi in setting up Cyber Lab/Cyber Center of Excellence for securities market.

Further, it will engage in continuous dialogues with relevant external agencies such as CERT-In, National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCSC), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and leading academic institutions and organisations, among others to further strengthen cyber security and cyber resilience.

The committee would provide recommendations for strengthening of processes to audit cyber security and cyber resilience setups in Indian securities market.