Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Information Technology Department of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, in collaboration with the University of Kashmir and with the support of the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), hosted a State-Level Consultative Workshop on Strengthening Cyber Security Frameworks for State Data at the University of Kashmir campus in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The workshop was part of a nationwide consultative initiative led by NeGD and MeitY, aimed at developing a comprehensive and nationally consistent framework to enhance cybersecurity, data protection, and digital resilience across all States and Union Territories of India. Jammu and Kashmir’s hosting of the event reflects the Union Territory’s increasingly active engagement with the national digital governance agenda at a time when its government institutions are deepening their reliance on digital platforms for public service delivery.
The inaugural session was attended by Vice Chancellor of the University of Kashmir Prof. Nilofer Khan; Commissioner/Secretary of the IT Department Saurabh Bhagat; Chief Executive Officer of JaKeGA Asha Choudhary Malhotra; Registrar of the University of Kashmir Prof. Naseer Iqbal; Special Secretary of the IT Department Abdul Hafiz Shah; Special Secretary Shokat Mehmood; State Informatics Officer at NIC J&K Jaskaran Singh Modi; Director IT at the University of Kashmir Maroof Naieem Qadri; and Director of NIELIT Ashaq Dar. Representatives from NeGD, CERT-In, NIC, J&K Bank, SeMT, JaKeGA, academia, and a range of government departments were also present.
Addressing the gathering, Saurabh Bhagat underscored that cybersecurity has become a cornerstone of digital governance and public trust. He drew attention to the increasing dependence of government institutions on digital platforms for delivering services to citizens, and stressed the critical importance of robust security mechanisms, proactive threat management, and resilient digital infrastructure to protect both government systems and the personal data of citizens.
A central feature of the workshop was a series of structured breakout sessions organised around six thematic areas: risk-based security assessments; securing State Data Centres and State Wide Area Networks; strengthening Security Operations Centres and Computer Security Incident Response Teams; modernising legacy systems; implementing data protection and privacy frameworks; and building cybersecurity capacity across departments.
Participants took stock of Jammu and Kashmir’s existing progress in the field, including the establishment of the JK-State Security Operations Centre (JK-SOC), the approval of Cyber Crisis Management Plans across departments, ongoing security audits of government websites, and the range of capacity-building programmes already implemented by the IT Department. These achievements were presented as a foundation to build upon rather than a destination reached, with the workshop focusing on identifying gaps and framing actionable recommendations.
The event concluded with presentations by each of the six thematic groups and a plenary session that crystallised key recommendations and action points. These outcomes are to be submitted to NeGD and are expected to feed directly into the development of a stronger national cybersecurity framework applicable to State Governments across India. For Jammu and Kashmir specifically, the workshop’s outputs are anticipated to contribute to a more secure digital ecosystem and improved protection of citizen data and critical government infrastructure at a time when the Union Territory continues to expand its e-governance footprint.
