Experts urge firms to fix basic cyber hygiene
IIT-Madras experts say companies should focus on basic cybersecurity measures before adopting AI. Prof. Balaraman Ravindran and V Kamakoti argue that the lack of fundamental data security controls, not AI-driven threats, is behind recent cybersecurity failures in India and abroad.
Basic cyber hygiene missing in corporate world
Kamakoti, Director of IIT-Madras, suggests that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) should take courses on cybersecurity to build basic competence. Ravindran, Head of the Wadhwani School of Data Science & AI and Centre for Responsible AI, notes that companies often disable basic cyber controls to test AI tools, leaving them vulnerable to threats.
Their comments follow global cybersecurity crises on October 21, 2026. However, the IIT professors stress that India’s cybersecurity issues stem from inadequate basic cyber hygiene, not AI’s capabilities.
India’s cautious approach to AI regulation
At the Industry Conclave on AI Governance 2026, Kamakoti supported India’s slow approach to AI legislation. He argued that understanding AI’s benefits and drawbacks across sectors is essential before implementing regulations. “If I start regulating, I can’t even do the basic innovation; regulation can kill innovation,” he stated.
Ravindran commended India’s sectoral approach to AI evaluation, as outlined in the AI Governance Guidelines. He observed that regulators in banking, healthcare, energy, and other sectors are independently crafting AI strategies and guidelines.
Research focuses on AI’s impact and infrastructure
Kamakoti highlighted key research areas at the Centre for Responsible AI, including the need for smaller, contained data centers for AI inference. This approach, he explained, would reduce energy consumption and resource requirements. For example, IIT-Madras could have a separate data center for its AI processing needs.
Another critical research area is AI’s impact on jobs. Ravindran noted that AI is not uniformly effective at replacing skills, emphasizing the need to reimagine jobs around AI’s capabilities.
