Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) is partnering with IDBI Bank to launch a cybersecurity Lab to develop and deploy security solutions in crucial sectors such as healthcare, fintech and aerospace, among others.

The lab will focus on creating market-ready IPs in cybersecurity, productisation and commercialisation of research work, especially for mobile technologies.

The ‘IDBI - IITM Secure Systems Lab’ (I2SSL) was inaugurated at IIT Madras campus on 31st July 2024 by Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IDBI Bank, in presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, and others.

With the rapid growth of Internet connectivity and automation, many critical sectors such as Healthcare, Banking, Finance and Insurance, Transportation, Government, Power and Energy, Telecom, and Strategic and Public Enterprises, depend considerably on Information and Communication Technologies. This has led to an explosion of cyber-attacks on these infrastructures, by hackers.

This lab would focus on cybersecurity in systems deployed in industries such as healthcare, banking, automotive, power and telecommunications, among others, and undertake experimental evaluation and assessment exercises. The researchers would also develop test cases for testing, carry out vulnerability research, and help devise hardening guidelines. It would help Enterprise Systems in managing cybersecurity risks in real-time.

The ‘IDBI - IITM Secure Systems Lab’ (I2SSL) will work on Secure Systems Engineering. Through this lab, the researchers aim to design and implement solutions that address security concerns from a holistic end-to-end perspective, ranging from fundamental problems in theory to practical system building to exploiting leakages and mounting implementation­-based attacks to lab would provide a platform for research students and would foster cybersecurity thinking in undergrads with the help of online programs, capture the flags (CTFs), hackathons, and projects.