Sebi chief stresses continuous capacity building for cyber resilience

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday stressed on capacity building programmes to enhance the cyber resilience and incident response capabilities of professionals in the securities market.

Speaking at a Cybersecurity Training Programme for Sebi-regulated entities at the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), he said capacity building is not a one-off event or a box to be ticked, but a continuous process of learning, upgrading, and adapting, as the threat landscape never stands still.

Highlighting that small glitches can have big consequences, Pandey noted that a minor fault in a trading algorithm can trigger market disruptions in milliseconds, while a misconfigured server or compromised account can lead to severe reputational and financial damage.

He referred to the 2012 Knight Capital incident in the US, where obsolete code in a new software rollout caused faulty trades worth billions within 45 minutes, leading to losses of USD 440 million and the company's collapse.

Cyberattacks, he said, are no longer isolated incidents and rank among the top-five global risks by likelihood over the next decade. Given the high-value transactions and interconnected systems of financial markets, greater vigilance and preparedness are essential.

Pandey emphasised on the importance of protecting critical infrastructure such as exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories, calling them "infrastructure of national importance" whose smooth functioning supports capital formation, investor confidence, and economic resilience.

In the fast-evolving threat landscape, he said, staying ahead of the curve is a "survival imperative", with prevention costing far less than cure.

He added that while technology is vital, people remain the most critical defence, as many breaches occur due to human errors, phishing attacks, or unintended disclosure of critical information.

"That's why your role is as much about preserving trust as it is about preventing theft," Pandey told IT professionals, urging continuous training, monitoring, and preparedness to ensure market security. PTI SP TRB