By Aditya Narayana
The AI systems powering India’s digital transformation are sitting ducks for sophisticated cyberattacks. As enterprises rush to adopt artificial intelligence, they’re overlooking a critical vulnerability that could cripple their operations.
India stands at the cusp of an AI revolution. With the Government’s ambitious IndiaAI Mission backed by Rs 10,370 crore and tech giants like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro leading the charge, artificial intelligence promises to contribute $500 billion to our economy by 2025. Yet beneath this optimistic narrative lurks a sobering reality: our AI infrastructure remains dangerously exposed to a new breed of cyberattacks that target not just traditional code vulnerabilities but the very foundation of AI systems themselves.
New Battleground Emerges
Traditional cybersecurity focused on protecting software code and network perimeters. Today’s threat landscape has fundamentally shifted. Cybercriminals and nation-state actors are pivoting towards attacking the AI stack – the underlying infrastructure of models, training data, and computational pipelines that power artificial intelligence. This shift represents a seismic change in how we must approach digital security.
Consider the recent surge in cyber incidents affecting Indian enterprises. While overall cybersecurity incidents decreased from 10,500 in 2023 to 7,770 in 2024, high-value cyber fraud cases jumped fourfold, causing losses exceeding Rs 11,333 crore. The sophistication of attacks has evolved dramatically.
Adversaries now use AI-powered social engineering, poisoning attacks on training data, and model tampering techniques that traditional security measures cannot detect.
Understanding AI Vulnerability Crisis
The vulnerability lies in how AI systems process and learn from data. Unlike conventional software that executes predetermined instructions, AI models continuously ingest, process, and learn from vast datasets. This creates multiple attack vectors previously unexploited. Data poisoning attacks can corrupt AI training processes, causing models to make catastrophic decisions. Model inversion attacks can extract sensitive information from AI systems, potentially exposing confidential business data or personal information of millions of Indians.
Recent research reveals that 48% of AI-generated code contains vulnerabilities. With 83% of Indian firms now using AI to generate code and 59% of large enterprises actively deploying AI in business operations, the attack surface has expanded exponentially. The stakes are particularly high for sectors like banking, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, where AI decisions directly impact citizen welfare and national security.
Homomorphic Encryption Solution
The answer to this growing threat lies in implementing end-to-end encryption specifically designed for AI workloads. Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) represents a breakthrough technology that allows computations on encrypted data without ever decrypting it. This means AI models can process sensitive information while keeping it completely secure throughout the entire pipeline.
Companies specialising in AI security infrastructure, including firms like Mirror Security working with Intel, are pioneering solutions that integrate homomorphic encryption with real-time threat detection. These technologies enable organisations to protect data at rest, in motion, and crucially, during AI processing, addressing the unique vulnerabilities of artificial intelligence systems.
For Indian enterprises, adopting such technologies isn’t just about preventing data breaches. It’s about maintaining a competitive advantage in a global economy where AI capabilities determine market leadership. Financial institutions processing millions of UPI transactions, healthcare providers managing patient data, and Government agencies implementing Digital India initiatives all require AI systems that are both powerful and secure.
Building India’s Secure AI Future
The path forward requires coordinated action across Government, industry, and academia. CERT-In’s recent advisories on AI safety protocols and the Government’s requirement for explicit permission before launching untested AI models demonstrate growing awareness. However, implementation remains fragmented. Only 24% of Indian firms have the necessary resources to address cybersecurity issues effectively, and the healthcare sector particularly lags in AI risk management frameworks.
As India races to establish itself as a global AI powerhouse through initiatives like BharatGen and AI Centres of Excellence, integrating security into the AI development lifecycle becomes paramount. The choice is clear: either we build AI systems with security as a foundational principle, or we risk becoming casualties in the next generation of cyberwarfare.
The technology to secure our AI future exists today. The question is whether Indian enterprises will adopt it before adversaries exploit the vulnerabilities. In the high-stakes game of AI-powered digital transformation, security isn’t an afterthought – it’s the foundation upon which India’s technological sovereignty depends.
(The author is the Co-Founder of Mirror Security)
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