As AI Enters Critical Infrastructure, Experts Call for an Indigenous Industrial Cybersecurity Framework

India’s journey towards AI-powered industrial automation is opening fresh opportunities and new cybersecurity challenges in the process. The critical infrastructure industry’s need for more robust, in-house cybersecurity solutions, instead of relying on increasingly ubiquitous artificial intelligence (AI) in operational technology (OT) systems, is growing, experts say. 

Counting exclusively on imported models of compliance.

Cybersecurity experts have urged building an indigenous IEC 62443 Compliance and Assurance Platform, noting the critical need of India for a unified framework to safeguard AI-driven industrial systems supporting critical services like power, oil and gas, defence, transportation, telecom and manufacturing.

The embedded AI is already transforming industrial operations, by allowing for predictive maintenance, autonomous control and real-time decision making in critical infrastructure. But it’s the same technologies enhancing the cyberattack surface, creating new vulnerabilities with connected devices, software updates, embedded firmware, and ever-more complex supply chains.

Industrial systems are being designed, deployed and maintained throughout their lifecycle, driven by increasingly broad and stringent international standards and regulations, including IEC 62443 and the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and the NIS2 Directive.

It’s more of a strategic challenge for India. The increasing adoption of AI-powered operational technologies is fuelled by government initiatives in smart manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, defence, renewable energy and digital infrastructure. These technologies offer greater efficiency and resilience but also pose the challenge of having to be safeguarded by trusted cybersecurity frameworks that can shield indigenous innovation and national critical infrastructure.

Such a platform would also assist Indian manufacturers and automation vendors to emerge with increased competition in the international arena where compliance with cyber security is now a must-have. The discussion is no longer about automation, but about the integration of industrial AI for a more comprehensive solution. India’s next steps in industrial transformation will rely on not only creating smarter factories and infrastructure, but also securing, making them resilient and trusted – from design to deployment.