The NSE recorded the highest ever cyber attacks of Rs 40 crore (400 million) in a single day during ‘Operation Sindoor’, designed as a DDoS simulation. However, the attackers failed to cause any damage due to the coordinated efforts of men, machines and advanced technology.
“Millions of cyber attacks are taking place on the NSE every day. But our technical teams, their systems and technology are combating these attacks round the clock with the help of specialized software,” a senior NSE official told PTI.
He said the number of cyber attacks ranges from 150 million to 170 million per day, making the task very challenging for the teams and systems.
Technical teams in the two cyber defense centers remain in constant combat mode, equipped with upgraded software to neutralize and repel large-scale attacks on financial market infrastructure 24/7, all year round.
“The strong cyber security architecture involving tech-savvy personnel, machines and technology makes the operations of the NSE secure,” the official said. NSE has implemented strong internal cybersecurity measures for its operations and also conducts a Cybersecurity Fundamentals Training Program through the NSE Academy. Trading members must undergo regular cyber security and cyber resilience audits, the results of which will be submitted to the exchange, according to officials.
The security setup includes strict protocols for emails, external data, pen drives and protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Pop-ups and alerts are generated immediately upon detection of suspicious activity through these channels, she added.
A DDoS attack overwhelms a server with traffic from multiple sources, causing it to crash or become unavailable to legitimate users, a serious threat to industries that rely on uninterrupted operations such as the stock market, they pointed out.
To strengthen protection, NSE is mandating Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) for all trading members and employees to ensure the integrity of its systems.
A group of journalists from Jammu and Kashmir visited NSE on Saturday to observe its management facilities, cyber defense centers and backup setups.
Top officials shared details of an incident during ‘Operation Sindoor’ – likely a specific security exercise or a period of heightened threat – when NSE endured as many as 400 million cyber attacks in a single day.
In response to the extreme security threat during that period, the NSE consciously decided to temporarily restrict access to its website to foreign users as a precautionary measure, officials said.
The NSE leadership noted that not only the exchange’s systems but “everything connected to us will be affected” in the event of a breach, highlighting the ripple effect of digital vulnerabilities in interconnected networks.
Officials added that increasing global interconnectedness and system complexity have made the risk of large-scale cyber attacks more relevant, posing a significant threat to the stability of financial markets.
They further said that the potential for large-scale cyber attacks on financial markets infrastructure at very low cost remains a major global risk.
NSE has a durable, self-activated backup system that can be operated remotely from its base in Chennai through a formal digital process and mandatory approvals.
as a reliable and trusted news source“From trading systems to backup setups, the system largely takes care of itself. It can correct errors automatically with minimal human intervention. If any problem arises here, a parallel backup setup in Chennai becomes operational after necessary processes,” an official said, adding that no such scenario has arisen so far.
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