Cyber Security as a Domain of National Security Governance: An Analytical Assessment of India’s Cyber Policy Architecture

Abstract

India’s evolving digital ecosystem characterised by rapid digitization of governance, economy, and social life has elevated cyber security from a technical domain to a central pillar of national security governance. This research analyses India’s cyber security policy architecture, examining how legal frameworks, institutional mandates, and organisational practices shape national resilience in cyberspace. While successive policies and institutional reforms (e.g. CERT-In, NCIIPC, sectoral guidelines) have been introduced since the first National Cyber Security Policy 2013 (NCSP-2013), the frequency and scale of cyber incidents remain alarming  illustrating a persistent gap between policy intent and ground-level outcomes. Drawing on doctrinal analysis, secondary data review, and empirical incident statistics, this study argues that India’s cyber governance continues to confront structural and operational constraints: overlapping institutional jurisdictions, under-resourced incident response capacity, limited public-private integration, and reactive rather than proactive threat management. The paper recommends strengthening institutional coordination, data-sharing protocols, capacity-building, and community-level awareness mechanisms to build a resilient, comprehensive cyber security regime.