Lucknow: Seeking to strengthen the state’s digital defences amid an increasingly complex cyber threat landscape, the Uttar Pradesh govt will on Friday convene a high-level consultation of senior officials, cyber security experts and departmental chief information security officers (CISOs) to draw up a coordinated strategy for protecting critical govt infrastructure and public services.The meeting comes as cyber incidents continue to rise nationally. India recorded 29.44 lakh cyber security incidents in 2025, up from 20.41 lakh in 2024, according to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). During 2025, CERT-In issued 1,530 security alerts, 390 vulnerability notes and 65 advisories, and conducted 18 domestic cyber security drills. It also trained more than 20,000 officials to strengthen preparedness.Organised by the Department of IT and Electronics and the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the State-Level Cyber Security Consultation Workshop is being positioned as a key step as the state accelerates digital transformation and expands delivery of citizen services through online platforms.Principal secretary Alok Kumar said the workshop aims to strengthen UP’s cyber security framework by bringing together senior leadership from the Centre and the state, along with CISOs, deputy CISOs and cyber security specialists, to deliberate on emerging threats and measures required to improve the state’s cyber resilience.He said the discussions will focus on cyber crisis management, incident response mechanisms, best practices in cyber governance and strategies for safeguarding govt networks and critical information infrastructure. Kumar added that the workshop is expected to lay the groundwork for a more integrated cyber security architecture by encouraging greater coordination among departments, promoting standardised security practices and enhancing the state’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to cyber incidents in an increasingly digital governance environment.Officials are also expected to deliberate on institutional preparedness and coordinated response mechanisms to counter increasingly sophisticated cyberattackstargeting public sector digital systems.The govt has underlined that with public services becoming increasingly technology-driven, securing the state’s critical information infrastructure and mission-critical IT systems has become a priority. An official communiqué said ensuring the security, integrity and availability of sensitive govt data across departmental IT systems is essential for maintaining public trust, continuity of public services and effective governance.
