The Data Security Council of India (DSCI), in collaboration with Siemens Limited, recently inaugurated an Operational Technology (OT) Cybersecurity Lab at the Nasscom Campus in Noida, aiming to bolster India’s cyber resilience in critical infrastructure sectors.
The facility, developed with support from the Ministry of Electronics & IT, CERT-In and NITI Aayog, is designed as a national resource where startups, researchers, and industry professionals can test, validate, and enhance cybersecurity solutions in real-world OT scenarios. Testing of products and solutions is one of the key concerns of the deeptech startups and this lab can potentially play a role in addressing this gap.
Envisioned as both a testbed and a training hub, the lab will provide hands-on exposure to professionals, foster research on OT security vulnerabilities, and promote collaboration between government, academia, and industry. It also seeks to support innovation by giving startups access to technology, equipment, and global expertise necessary to build scalable and compliant security solutions.
Speaking at the inauguration, KK Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT, stressed the importance of protecting India’s operational technology systems as part of national security. “Today, critical infrastructure security is the need of the hour to strengthen national security and within that securing operational technology is crucial. This project should work as an enabler for startups, researchers and industry professionals to be able to assess their capabilities and come up with better security solutions for critical infrastructure,” he said.
Vinayak Godse, CEO of DSCI, described the lab as an extension of the National Centre of Excellence in Cybersecurity, jointly set up by MeitY and DSCI. He said the initiative would help India prepare unified responses to evolving cyber threats.
“The lab will facilitate collaboration between government agencies, academia, industry and startups involved in critical infrastructure. It will help user organisations and startups to innovate and validate the efficacy of their solutions in complex and regulated environments. This will support the nation’s preparedness against cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure and create unified responses,” said Godse.
From Siemens’ perspective, the initiative reflects the need to align cyber resilience with India’s accelerating digitalisation. Suprakash Chaudhuri, Head of Digital Industries, Siemens Limited, said the lab would play a critical role in securing industrial and urban infrastructure. “As IT and OT converge, systems face new vulnerabilities. The launch of this lab is a strategic step toward securing India’s manufacturing and critical infrastructure ecosystems,” he added.
Equipped with a comprehensive OT testbed, the lab will enable research into threat detection, defense-in-depth models, and risk management strategies. Insights generated will be shared with stakeholders to help strengthen India’s overall cybersecurity posture.
The initiative comes at a time when cyberattacks on industrial control systems, utilities, and manufacturing ecosystems are on the rise globally, putting pressure on governments and enterprises to safeguard OT systems traditionally isolated from IT networks.
