Cybersecurity is crucial to prevent data from falling into wrong hands, say experts | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #ransomware

Pointing out that cybersecurity is crucial in this digital era, speakers at the CyberSecure Andhra-2025 conference organised in the city by the CII Andhra Pradesh Chapter on Thursday (August 21, 2025) discussed the risk of data falling into the wrong hands and the technology available to deal with these threats.

Participating in the programme as the guest of honour, Eficens Systems founder & chairman Ramu Venigandla, who is also the Gudivada MLA, said Andhra Pradesh is charting the path for the next-generation technologies.

“By aligning innovation in AI and quantum computing with robust cybersecurity, the State government is not only safeguarding the critical infrastructure but also enabling the future growth. Cybersecurity is crucial in this digital age in view of the risk of data falling into the wrong hands,” he said.

Speaking at the programme organised with the theme of ‘Securing Andhra’s Digital Backbone: Engineering Trust in an Age of Cyber Risk’, Brijesh Balakrishnan, global head of cybersecurity services, Infosys, spoke on ‘Adversarial Arms Race: AI-Powered Attacks vs AI-Enhanced Defences’. He discussed how cybercriminals are leveraging AI for sophisticated attacks while defenders use it for real-time threat detection and response.

Ajay Kulkarni, leader – Quantum Safe & Hybrid Cloud Garage, IBM, spoke on ‘Quantum Computing Security Frontiers – Redefining Cryptographic Paradigm’. He warned of the disruption quantum computing poses to existing cryptography.

He highlighted the ‘Harvest now, Decrypt later’ threat of hackers stealing the data for future decryption. He emphasised the need for immediate action through Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) approaches, crypto-agility, and remediation patterns, including new NIST standards contributed by IBM.

Sanjay Chittore, founder and CEO, Quantum AI Global, spoke on ‘The Quantum Threat: Cybersecurity in the Y2Q Era’.

Q-Forte unveiled

He unveiled Q-Forte, their patented full-stack PQC framework for securing identity, cloud, networks, transactions, IoT, and blockchain. He stressed the urgency of quantum-resilient governance to align with Andhra Pradesh’s vision of digital sovereignty.

CII A.P. former Chairman and CEO of Maple Software, Sivakumar Gunturu, set the stage for discussions on building a secure digital ecosystem.

Karan Sajnani, founder & chief cybersecurity architect of RUDRA Cybersecurity Private Limited, spoke on real-world vulnerabilities.