L&T Technology Services (LTTS), a leading pure-play engineering services company, signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) to collaborate on research in industrial and infrastructure cybersecurity.

The MoU was signed by Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO and MD of LTTS and Padmashri Awardee Professor Manindra Agarwal, deputy director in the premises of IIT-Kanpur.

As per the MoU, the partners will together set-up a Center of Excellence (CoE) in the IIT-Kanpur campus and conduct research in the areas of Honeypot (network-attached system set up to entrap cyberattacks and study hacking attempts), intrusion detection systems, malware analysis, blockchain, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing and provide cybersecurity awareness and training programs. The MoU will also give LTTS access to IIT-Kanpur’s cutting-edge testbed for critical infrastructure.

The CoE will be a part of IIT-Kanpur’s C3i Center, a government of India-funded one-of-a-kind cybersecurity research centre, which was developed to work on solutions and technologies to protect India’s Strategic and Critical Utility Infrastructure.

Dr Keshab Panda said, “LTTS is a leader in end-to-end cybersecurity solutions with a range of assets spread over several domains, which cater to a global clientele. Our expertise across security analysis, vulnerability assessments, design security architecture and security requirements has been further strengthened by our partnership with many of the world’s prestigious educational institutions. LTTS’ partnership with IIT-Kanpur will open a new chapter in defense and industrial cybersecurity and pave the way for the creation of safe, secure and smart solutions for India’s industrial sector.”

Prof. Sandeep K. Shukla, joint coordinator, C3i Center and Head of the Computer Science & Engineering Department at IIT-Kanpur said, “Cyberattacks across the globe have affected millions of IT and OT systems over the past few years leading to operational downtime, logistic failures, and production cycle disruption. LTTS’ deep-rooted and proven technological expertise combined with the cyber security research expertise of C3i Center will help counter such cyberattacks. LTT boasts of a well-rounded portfolio comprising of - automotive cybersecurity consulting, threat modeling, continuous threat monitoring & security updates patching among others. C3i Center has been in the forefront of vulnerability assessment and penetration testing with more than 8 CVEs published, building and utilising industrial scale cyber security test-bed for OT, honeypots, malware analysis and intrusion detection research. This partnership will strengthen the security ecosystem in the country. The company’s large pool of experienced architects and engineers along with IIT’s research talent will have the capability to change the current cybersecurity landscape.”