CISF cyber security training took a formal step forward on Friday when the Central Industrial Security Force Airport Sector signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar to run a specialised six week residential Cyber Security Training Programme for CISF personnel guarding the country's airports. The MoU was signed on 07 August 2026 at the IIT Ropar campus.

The programme runs on a no cost basis.

Why CISF cyber security training targets aviation infrastructure

The push traces back to the vision the Prime Minister set out at the DsGP/IsGP Conference-2024, and to directions from the Union Home Ministry for building a cyber capable security force, with dedicated cyber commando capabilities across Central Armed Police Forces and state police organisations. Under Director General CISF Shri Praveer Ranjan, the force has run a series of initiatives meant to build a specialised cadre able to detect, respond to and manage cyber security challenges as they surface.

Aviation infrastructure counts as critical national infrastructure, and a cyber disruption there can carry costs that reach well past a single airport.

That is why the Airport Sector carries particular weight in the wider CISF push. It follows the force's parallel build up of a specialised training track for the personnel guarding civil airports, and sits alongside periodic tests of the same aviation security mandate such as the anti-hijacking mock exercise run at Chennai last year, both of them evidence that CISF cyber security training is only one strand of a broader airport readiness effort.

The officials behind the MoU

Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, signed for the institute. Shri Senthil Avoodai Krishna Raj S, IPS, Inspector General, Airport Sector-I, CISF, New Delhi, signed for the force.

Senior officials from IIT Ropar attended the signing, including Dr. Sarang Gumfekar, Coordinator and Director of the SCALE Foundation, and Dr. Shashi Sekhar Jha, Dean and Head of the Centre for Drone and Autonomous Systems, along with distinguished faculty members from the institute.

CISF officers present included Shri Santosh Kumar Suman, Chief Airport Security Officer, Airport Sector Group Chandigarh.

Building on an existing cyber push

CISF has trained personnel in cyber disciplines before this MoU, part of the same modernisation drive that has also produced a counter-drone training pipeline running past 7,000 personnel. The IIT Ropar tie up adds a residential, campus based track dedicated specifically to aviation infrastructure protection, distinct from the shorter modules the force has used for cyber instruction until now.

What the programme aims to build

The stated goal is a skilled and specialised cyber security cadre within CISF, one capable of strengthening cyber resilience, sharpening incident detection and response, supporting cyber investigations, and contributing to the protection and continuity of critical aviation infrastructure. The collaboration is billed as feeding into the broader national cyber security framework, alongside the evolving requirements of Aviation Security and the Security of Vital Installations that CISF is charged with meeting.

The six week curriculum

Participants get both theoretical and practical exposure across eight areas.

Cyber Security Foundations, Critical Information Infrastructure, Digital Forensics, Incident Detection and Response, Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity Planning, Emerging Cyber Threats, and Multi-Sector Crisis Simulation make up the curriculum. The residential format keeps personnel on the IIT Ropar campus for the full six weeks, rather than spreading the course into scattered modules delivered around other postings, a design choice meant to give the training programme depth rather than breadth alone.