Airtel Business secures multi-year deal for Indian Railways security

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Airtel Business, the enterprise arm of Bharti Airtel, on Monday announced it has bagged a multi-year contract from Indian Railway Security Operations Centre (IRSOC) to deliver security services.

Airtel will design, build, implement and operate a greenfield, multi-layered cybersecurity protection ecosystem that will serve as a defence barrier to safeguard the Indian Railways' IT backbone, while ensuring uninterrupted, secure and seamless digital operation, according to a release.

With centralised security controls, Airtel Business will build multi-layer protection to secure the expansive database of the railways.

"Airtel Business wins multi-year contract for the Indian Railway Security Operations Centre (IRSOC)," the release said, but did not divulge the financial details of the order.

Ensuring a resilient and compliant secure backend, Airtel Business will also safeguard the end-to-end digital operations of the country's railway services, which include 1,60,000 employees distributed across 26 locations.

The stack will include technologies along with Make in India cybersecurity products, and deliver a sovereign, compliant and AI-embedded security ecosystem geared for critical infrastructure protection.

The country's railway services are a vital national asset that operate over 13,000 trains daily, serve more than 20 million commuters and enable millions of digital transactions each day, while transporting over 1.5 billion tonnes of freight annually.

Safeguarding this immense flow of critical data, including sensitive customer identities, payment details, as well as key operational databases for ticketing, train tracking, freight, and signalling, is crucial in today's era of intensifying cyber threats, the release noted.

"At Airtel Business, we understand that in today's times of escalating cyber risks that threaten operational continuity, data integrity and passenger safety, advanced defence mechanisms play a critical role," Sharat Sinha, CEO and Director of Airtel Business, said.

The robust security layer will advance security efficiency in ticketing and data management, shield all railway digital operations from evolving cyber threats while delivering seamless digital services to millions of daily railway commuters, he added.

Dilip Kumar, EDIP - Railway Board, said that "Cyber security is of the utmost importance" due to increased reliance on digital information and communication technologies for operations, maintenance, production and procurement of assets.

"The establishment of IRSOC will help in providing a centralised Security Operations Centre to continuously monitor IR assets, detect and respond to cyber security threats efficiently, gather threat intelligence and ensure proper collaboration with National Cyber Security Agencies," Kumar said.

Further he said that streamlining the operation and maintenance of information technology-related assets will improve service delivery and safeguard the interests of passengers by providing uninterrupted services.