The POWERGRID Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Cybersecurity has been established at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to accelerate research and development in cybersecurity, with a special focus on power grid operations and transmission systems.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has also reinforced the sector’s cyber readiness through the Cyber Security in Power Sector Guidelines, 2021, which provide a comprehensive cyber assurance framework and enhance governance across all power sector entities. The Draft CEA (Cyber Security in Power Sector) Regulations, 2025 are currently in the finalization stage and aim to introduce a more detailed cybersecurity framework for the industry.
To further bolster incident response capabilities, the Ministry of Power (MoP) set up the Computer Security Incident Response Team – Power (CSIRT-Power) on April 5, 2023, at the CEA as an extension of CERT-In. CSIRT-Power assists utilities in detecting, responding to, and managing cyber incidents while improving overall preparedness. The Ministry has additionally constituted six sub-sectoral CERTs—covering Thermal, Hydro, Transmission, Grid Operation, Renewable Energy, and Distribution. Each team has been tasked with preparing a model Cyber Crisis Management Plan to ensure coordinated mitigation during cyber-attacks.
According to Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited (GETCO), a comprehensive cybersecurity framework has been implemented in the state, featuring stricter access controls, endpoint protection, secure encrypted communication, reduced system exposure, next-generation firewalls between Remote Control Centres and the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), and updated antivirus safeguards.
No cyber breaches or successful cyber-attacks have been reported in the operational systems of the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) over the past five years.
Cybersecurity audits are conducted periodically across the power sector as per the CEA Guidelines, 2021, by CERT-In empaneled third-party auditors. In the last five years, nine IT infrastructure assessments and five Operational Technology (OT) assessments have been completed at the NLDC. SLDCs across the country also undergo routine audits covering IT, OT, SCADA systems, and the Unified Real-Time Dynamic State Measurement (URTDSM) system.
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