Introduction

In an increasingly digitised world, cyber resilience is no longer a luxury but a necessity, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups that often lack the capacity for full-scale cybersecurity infrastructure. Recognising this critical need, a webinar takes place on May 19, 2025, focusing on empowering digital-first businesses to leverage free cybersecurity tools offered by Cloudflare. This initiative comes as a collaborative effort by CyberPeace, Cloudflare, USI-CCOE, and Autobot Infosec, designed to be an actionable and awareness-building session. The aim was to bridge the digital divide in cybersecurity access and foster a whole-of-nation approach to cyber defence.

Target Audience and Participation

The event specifically targeted a diverse range of participants, including startups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tech entrepreneurs, cybersecurity professionals, policy practitioners, as well as students and civil society representatives. This broad audience was chosen to ensure that key stakeholders across different sectors could benefit from the insights and tools shared during the workshop.  The audience consisted of over 200 registered participants from diverse professional backgrounds, all interested in enhancing their organisational and personal cyber resilience.

Key Highlights and Session Breakdown

A. Opening Remarks‍

The session began with introductory comments from Maj. Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President of CyberPeace, and Ms. Smrithi Ramesh, Outreach and Public Policy at Cloudflare. They addressed the rising frequency of cyberattacks on smaller enterprises and underlined the growing relevance of data privacy compliance, especially in the context of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

B. Keynote by Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant

General Pant provided a macro-level analysis of cyber threats and emphasised:

• Cybercrime now forms a $10 trillion global economy, making it the third-largest economy if measured as such.
  
  
• Three hard truths: Software will have vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities will be exploited, and cyberattack attribution is extremely difficult.
  
  
• Four pillars of resilience: People, Process, Technology, and Cooperation.
  
  

C. Defence Perspective by Major General (Dr.) Pawan Anand

He focused on the continuous nature of cyber warfare and the risks posed by non-state actors, 5G, IoT, and AI-based platforms. He praised Cloudflare’s Zero Trust Architecture and post-quantum encryption initiatives, urging multi-stakeholder collaboration.

D. Technical Session and Live Demo by Ayush Verma

Mr. Verma gave an engaging presentation and demo, showing:

• How businesses can secure their websites using DNSSEC, HTTPS, and Cloudflare’s web application firewall.
  
  
• Free offerings like DDoS protection, rate limiting, real-time analytics, and post-quantum cryptography.
  
  
• Use of Cloudflare Radar for real-time threat intelligence, noting India’s 75% IPv6 adoption and increasing HTTPS usage.
  
  

Vote of Thanks 

Major General (Dr.) Pawan Anand, Head of the USI Centre for Atma Nirbhar Bharat, delivered the vote of thanks, acknowledging the relevance of the webinar and the collaborative effort of CyberPeace, United Service Institution (USI) and Cloudflare. He emphasised the growing threat of cyber warfare, noting that attacks today are increasingly driven by ideological and geopolitical motives. Highlighting vulnerabilities posed by emerging technologies like IoT and 5G, he stressed the need to secure India’s digital infrastructure. He called for continued collaboration across the military, civilian, and private sectors to strengthen national cybersecurity and expressed appreciation to all speakers and participants for their contributions.

Outcome and Impact

The webinar successfully raised awareness among over a hundred participants about the state of global and national cybersecurity threats. It equipped SMEs and startups with practical tools and insights to build cyber resilience without requiring heavy investments. The webinar also promoted the democratisation of cybersecurity through open-access tools and real-time threat intelligence platforms. Importantly, it fostered inter-sectoral collaboration among government, military, academia, and industry players, aiming for a united cyber defence strategy.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The session underscores the urgent need to strengthen cyber resilience across India’s digital ecosystem, particularly for SMEs and other vulnerable entities. It demonstrates the value of collaborative efforts in addressing cybersecurity challenges through accessible and practical solutions. CyberPeace, in collaboration with leading partners, played a central role in bringing together diverse stakeholders to foster awareness, share critical insights, and promote inclusive cyber capacity-building.

Key recommendations from the event include adopting proactive cybersecurity practices, promoting Zero Trust architecture, using open-access tools for threat monitoring, and preparing for emerging risks such as post-quantum threats. The workshop serves as a meaningful step toward a collective and sustainable national approach to cyber defence. Further initiatives of this nature will be essential in building a secure and resilient digital India.

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