Nasscom urges IT firms to strengthen cybersecurity, business continuity amid Middle East tensions

Nasscom has advised IT companies to strengthen cybersecurity frameworks and review business continuity plans amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Firms are enhancing contingency measures, monitoring cyber threats and ensuring employee safety while maintaining uninterrupted global service delivery.

New Delhi: IT industry’s apex body Nasscom on Monday issued an advisory to member companies, urging heightened vigilance and preparedness across business continuity and cybersecurity frameworks in view of the evolving geopolitical situation in the Middle East.

While business operations currently remain stable, companies are proactively reviewing contingency plans and strengthening resilience measures to mitigate potential disruptions if the situation escalates, the advisory said.

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According to Nasscom, several companies have begun activating or reviewing business continuity plans for operations linked to affected countries to ensure uninterrupted service delivery in the event of regional disruptions.

Organisations are also prioritising employee safety, enabling work-from-home arrangements for staff located in impacted areas and closely monitoring developments on the ground.

Moreover, firms are evaluating alternative infrastructure options to ensure the resilience of cloud platforms and data centres in the region and safeguard critical systems.

According to the advisory, companies have also been advised to limit non-essential travel through the region, which serves as a major international transit hub, and consider alternative travel routes where required.

Businesses are maintaining close communication with clients as well, updating them on preparedness measures to ensure continuity of services.

The advisory further warned that periods of geopolitical uncertainty often see a rise in coordinated cyber threats, disinformation campaigns and infrastructure targeting, prompting companies to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Among the key cybersecurity steps recommended are organisation-wide credential resets and accelerated patching of critical vulnerabilities, along with enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) across external access points such as VPNs, remote desktop systems and cloud administration platforms.

Nasscom also advised companies to conduct supply chain security audits, particularly for vendors with exposure to the Middle East, noting that a compromised third-party supplier could trigger wider sector disruptions.

Other recommended measures include preparing for potential distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, maintaining offline and immutable backups for critical systems, and conducting employee awareness programmes to counter social engineering and disinformation campaigns linked to the ongoing tensions.

Nasscom also said that it is continuing to monitor developments in the region and remains in contact with the Middle East Council to assess the situation and extend support where required.