Speaker
Former National Cyber Security Coordinator at National Security Council Secretariat.
Lt Gen M Unnikrishnan Nair PVSM, AVSM, SM (retired) is a former Signal Officer in Chief of the Indian Army, where he served for nearly 40 years in multiple assignments. He has served all over the country, in operational, staff and instructional assignments. As a Lt Gen, he was also the Commandant of the Military College of Telecommunications Engineering (MICTE) at Mhow, Indore, as also the Chief of Staff, of Army's Central Command. He was also the Chief of Staff of India's frontline Corps in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, as also the ADG of Signal Intelligence tasked with the responsibility of strategic intelligence gathering for the Armed Forces. He was also instrumental in raising India's Defence Cyber Agency.
While he was serving as the Signal officer in Chief, he was picked up as India's third National Cyber Security Coordinator at the National Security Council Secretariat, an appointment which he held for two years till 31 May 2025.
He has vast experience in utilising technology for operational domains, and for citizen facing applications. He has also been part of apex Committees on 6G, National Quantum Mission, and on Crypto regulations. He was the key member of India's National Security Directive on Telecom, looking at Supply Chain challenges and Indigenisation of Electronics and Chip ecosystem on telecom networks and other digital ecosystems.
He has also been leading India's global initiatives on cyber security.
Currently, he is involved with the Academia and Industry, assisting them to address the gaps which are there in technology domain, to make a difference at citizen level, as also for the Armed Forces.
He is currently, a visiting faculty, at IT Gandhinagar.
