The second edition of the national level Critical Information Infrastructure Security Exercise (CII SECEX) 2024 was conducted by NCIIPC from 05th to 14th April 2024. The exercise was attended by 550+ officials from 160+ organisations/Ministries at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata simultaneously. It was inaugurated by the Cabinet Secretary Shri Rajiv Gauba on 05th April 2024. The valedictory address was given by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood on 14th April 2024.
The exercise was conducted in three parallel tracks. The Training and Operational Exercise for cutting & middle management level officials was attended by 400 plus participants from 170 plus organisations and held simultaneously at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata from 05th – 14th April 2024. The operational part of the exercise was specially designed to have challenges that closely mimicked the real-world cyber threats by advanced threat actors to CIIs across the globe. Combining training with operational exercise promoted peer learning and healthy competition among the teams.
The Strategic Exercise held during 13th to 14th of April for CISOs/CTOs/CROs of CII entities and critical sector Ministries saw 110 participants from 104 organizations/ministries at Delhi. They were part of a one and a half day long strategic exercise with 9 phases spanning Governance, threat landscape and the 7-critical sector-based attack scenarios.
A half-day exclusive CEO-level exercise held in Delhi on 14th April afternoon was attended by CEOs and Board Members of 45+ CII entities. This exercise was designed keeping in mind People, Process and Technology issues embedded in Hybrid Crisis Scenario of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world.
As a special pilot initiative, the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) was chosen as the venue for the Mumbai edition of CII SECEX 2024. This was a conscious decision considering the fact that the NISM campus is a self-contained venue where participants were not-only able to upgrade their cyber defense skills through the exercise but also by staying within the NISM campus throughout the 10 days of the exercise, were able to unwind and network amongst themselves.
The presence and address by the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, during the inauguration and valedictory ceremony respectively helped reinforce the message of importance of CII security to the government. The successful conduct of second edition of CII SECEX is a step in the journey of a whole of Critical Sector and a whole of government approach to CII security in the country.
