Agenda
Discover the sessions, speakers, and key topics shaping today’s IT security landscape in India.
IT Security Summit India 2026
Day 1
Networking Lunch: Where Cyber Resilience Meets Nizami Elegance
Welcome Address: Setting the Stage for the IT Security Summit India
This opening session will welcome attendees and provide an overview of the event, its key themes, and the opportunities for learning, collaboration, and networking. It will set the context for the discussions ahead and highlight the importance of security in today’s digital landscape.
Sakshi Grover
Senior Research Manager, Cybersecurity Products and Services, Asia Pacific, IDC
IDC Keynote: The Strategic Security Spend: Justifying & Optimizing Budget
Indian enterprises are under pressure to show that security spend drives business outcomes. This topic will explore how CISOs/VPs in India build and defend budget, optimise vendor spend, align spend to business value, and show ROI on security and trust programmes.
Sakshi Grover
Senior Research Manager, Cybersecurity Products and Services, Asia Pacific, IDC
Panel Discussion: Identity Security: The New Battleground
As cyber threats evolve, identity has become the primary attack vector for modern enterprises. From credential theft and phishing to AI-powered deepfakes and insider threats, attackers are increasingly targeting identities rather than networks. This session brings together cybersecurity leaders to discuss why identity security is now central to cyber resilience, how businesses can combat evolving threats, and what the future of trust, authentication, and access control looks like in the AI era.
Vivek Gupta
Chief Information Security Officer, Data Privacy & Business Continuity Leader, Mankind Pharma Ltd.
Dr. Jagannath Sahoo
CISO and Data Protection Officer, Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd, (INOXGFL Group)
Ravi Bhushan
CISO & DPO, PayU
Interactive Workshops: Practical Strategies for Modern Cybersecurity Challenges
Designed for security practitioners and technology leaders, these hands-on workshops provide actionable insights into securing AI adoption, strengthening cyber resilience, modernizing security operations, protecting identities, securing cloud environments, and safeguarding data. Attendees will gain practical frameworks, best practices, and real-world strategies to address today’s evolving cybersecurity challenges.
Workshop 1: Securing AI Adoption: Governance, Risk, and Enterprise Readiness
Workshop 2: Modern SOC Transformation: From Alert Fatigue to Intelligent Response
Workshop 3: Identity-First Security: Strengthening Zero Trust in a Hybrid Enterprise
Workshop 4: Ransomware Resilience
Workshop 5: Cloud Security Without Complexity
Workshop 6: Data Security in the Age of AI and Hyperconnectivity
End of Interactive Workshops
Executive Roundtables: Navigating Cybersecurity Priorities in the Age of AI
These interactive roundtable discussions bring together senior security and business leaders to explore the strategic challenges shaping the future of cybersecurity. From AI-driven risks and resilience to cloud security, data protection, governance, and enterprise trust, participants will exchange perspectives and practical approaches for securing the modern digital enterprise.
Roundtable 1: From Detection to Resilience: Building Cybersecurity Strategies for the AI Era
Roundtable 2: Securing the Modern Enterprise: Managing Risk Across Cloud, Data, and Distributed Workforces
Roundtable 3: Trust, Governance, and GenAI: Preparing Enterprises for the Next Security Frontier
End of Roundtable
Gala Dinner & CISO Leaders Honours
An evening of Royal Flavors and Regal Connections, marking a momentous occasion — the CISO Leaders Honours Class of 2026, proudly celebrating fifty of the brightest minds advancing cybersecurity leadership across India and beyond.
Day 2
Registration and Networking Tea/Coffee
IDC Welcome Address: Building Digital Trust Through Secure and AI-Driven Investments
An IDC perspective on how Indian enterprises are aligning cybersecurity budgets and AI adoption strategies to strengthen digital trust and operational resilience, with spending expected to accelerate across cloud, data, and AI-enabled security domains by 2026.
Sakshi Grover
Senior Research Manager, Cybersecurity Products and Services, Asia Pacific, IDC
Government Keynote: Building the Future of Trust in India
Setting the stage for the day. Exploring India’s digital trust imperative and the evolving role of security as a driver of innovation and compliance.
Regulation & Resilience: Turning Compliance into Competitive Advantage
How Indian enterprises are aligning with DPDP, CERT-In, and sectoral mandates while driving innovation and operational resilience.
Preemptive External Threat Management in the AI Age: Why Old-School CTI Is Dead
Traditional Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) focused on historical IOCs (Indicators of Compromise), reactive feeds, and post-breach analysis is obsolete in the AI era. Attackers using frontier models compress timelines dramatically, demanding a shift to preemptive external threat management powered by predictive threat intelligence (PTI), AI-driven foresight, and continuous exposure management.
Kumar Ritesh
Founder, Chairman & CEO, CYFIRMA
Redefining Security Priorities in the Age of Generative Intelligence
Exploring how generative and agentic AI are reshaping security priorities from detection to data protection to ethics and trust.
Boardroom Security: Speaking the Language of Risk & Value
How security leaders can elevate trust and resilience as boardroom priorities, turning cyber risk into strategic value.
Defending the Digital Core: Sector-Specific Risk Management & Threat Intelligence
Examining how India’s most targeted sectors are advancing critical infrastructure protection, adopting intelligence-led risk management, and building unified cyber resilience.
The Business of Breach: Reputational Risk and Shareholder Trust
AI & Security: Tool, Threat & Trust:
Indian organisations are accelerating AI usage: IDC finds ~94% of Indian firms already using AI in cybersecurity. At the same time, 72% reported encountering AI‑powered attacks. This topic will examine how AI can be a defender’s tool, how attackers are themselves using AI, and how Indian enterprises build trust in AI systems while mitigating threat exposure.
Tea/Coffee & Networking Break
Parallel Tracks: Cyber Resilience in the AI Era: Securing the Modern Digital Enterprise
As cyber threats grow in sophistication and organizations increasingly adopt AI-driven technologies, security leaders must balance innovation with robust risk management. This theme explores practical strategies for strengthening cyber resilience across identity, cloud, AI, threat detection, ransomware preparedness, and supply chain security, helping enterprises protect critical assets and confidently navigate an evolving digital landscape.
Platinum Track A: Securing the Digital Enterprise: Strategies for Resilience in an AI-Driven World
12:20PM – 12:30PM
AI Security in Practice: From Experimentation to Enterprise-Scale Governance
12:30PM – 12:35PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
12:35PM – 12:45PM
Identity as the New Perimeter: Zero Trust for a Distributed Workforce
12:45PM – 12:50PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
12:50PM – 1:00PM
Trust in the Cloud-First Enterprise
1:00PM – 1:05PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
1:05PM – 1:15PM
Cybercrime as a Service
1:15PM – 1:20PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
Platinum Track B: Cyber Resilience, Risk and Real-World Defense
12:20PM – 12:30PM
GenAI Risk & Security: Protecting Data and Models
12:30PM – 12:35PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
12:35PM – 12:45PM
Ransomware Readiness 2.0: Moving from Recovery to Proactive Resilience
12:45PM – 12:50PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
12:50PM – 1:00PM
The Future of Cyber Insurance
1:00PM – 1:05PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
1:05PM – 1:10PM
The Business of Breach: Reputational Risk and Shareholder Trust
1:10PM – 1:15PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
Leadership, Culture & Talent: Making Security Everyone’s Business
Indian enterprises often struggle with talent gaps, cultural silos and aligning business and security. This topic will look at how leadership (CISO, CSO, board) in India build security culture, upskill workforce, manage human risk, and make security & trust part of the business DNA.
Melwyn Rebeiro
Head – GRC (India) | Chief Information Security Officer & Data Protection Officer, Julius Baer
Urvish Acharya
Global CISO and Head of IT Governance & Risk, Birla Carbon, Aditya Birla Group
Kishan Kendre
Head – Information Security, Blue Star Limited
Hemant Bhardwaj
Head of Global Cybersecurity GRC, Perfetti Van Melle
Utkarsh Sawant
Global Head of Cyber Strategy, Diageo
Lunch and Networking
Parallel Tracks: The Future of Enterprise Cybersecurity: Building Resilience, Trust & Intelligent Defence
As organizations navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape, cybersecurity strategies must evolve to address emerging technologies, expanding attack surfaces, and heightened governance requirements. This theme brings together innovations in security operations, adaptive defence architectures, AI-driven protection, and risk governance to help enterprises build resilient, trusted, and future-ready security ecosystems.
Gold Track A: Trust, Preparedness & Governance: Securing the Future of the Digital Enterprise
2:50PM – 3:00PM
SSL Visibility for Effective Security
Tarun Verma
Systems Engineering Manager, A10 Networks
3:00PM – 3:05PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:05PM – 3:15PM
Cyber Crisis Simulation: Are You Truly Breach-Ready?
3:15PM – 3:20PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:20PM – 3:30PM
Securing AI in the Enterprise Stack: From Copilots to Custom Models
3:30PM – 3:35PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
Gold Track B: Security Platforms, Innovation & the Future SOC
2:50PM – 3:00PM
Platformization vs Best-of-Breed: Rethinking the Security Stack
3:00PM – 3:05PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:05PM – 3:15PM
Real-Time Threat Intelligence: From Insights to Action
3:15PM – 3:20PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:20PM – 3:30PM
Security the Modern Endpoint: Beyond EDR to XDR & Identity
3:30PM – 3:35PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
Gold Track C: Adaptive Security for the Modern Enterprise
2:50PM – 3:00PM
Exposure Management: Moving Beyond Vulnerability Scanning
3:00PM – 3:05PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:05PM – 3:15PM
The Rise of Autonomous Security Operations: Can AI Agents Transform Cyber Defence?
3:15PM – 3:20PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
3:20PM – 3:30PM
Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture: Rethinking Security for a Distributed Enterprise
3:30PM – 3:35PM
Q&A (Ask Questions & Stand a Chance to Win a Raffle)
Proactive Defense Against AI-Enhanced Cyber Threats
Explore how AI is reshaping both the threat landscape and cyber defence — from threat detection and incident response to proactive threat hunting.
Gaurav Duggal
Senior Vice President – IT & Security, Jio Platforms Limited