NSA Ajit Doval on Monday highlighted the need for safeguarding India's cyberspace saying any threat to it directly impacts social, economic and national security.
He was speaking after inaugurating the national cyber security incident response exercise.
A government statement said the national cyber exercise (NCX) will be conducted as a hybrid exercise over a period of 10 days from April 18 to 29 to train senior management and technical personnel of critical sector organisations and agencies on contemporary cyber threats and handling cyber incidents.
It said Doval, in his keynote address, highlighted the digital revolution taking place in the country and the launch of a large number of digital services by the government.
He went on to say that cyber security remains the foundation of any successful digital transformation.
"Any threat in cyberspace directly impacts our social, economic and national security and therefore we need to safeguard our cyberspace," the statement issued by the National Security Council Secretariat said.
It said the NCX will help strategic leaders to better understand cyber threats, assess readiness, and develop skills for cyber crisis management and cooperation.
This will also help develop and test cyber security skills, teamwork, planning, communication, critical thinking, and decision-making, it said.
The programme is being conducted by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) in association with Data Security Council of India (DSCI) as the knowledge partner and supported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The platform for training is being provided by CyberExer Technologies, an Estonian cyber security company accredited for globally conducting several large cyber exercises.
Lt General Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, brought out the importance of Indian cyberspace and the necessity of keeping it secure and safe for the citizens, businesses and governments.
"He talked about the increase in ransomware and supply chain attacks taking place in the world and in our country and how it was very vital to achieve synergy amongst all organisations for effectively countering these attacks," the NSCS said.
He also highlighted the recent ransomware attack on Oil India Limited and the importance of cyber warfare in the global scenario, it said.