New Delhi, Nov. 7 -- The department of telecommunications (DoT) is stepping up efforts to secure the country's critical telecom infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, including those powered by artificial intelligence. DoT has held multiple rounds of meetings with telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio and state-owned BSNL to strengthen network security through firewalls and other protective mechanisms, officials aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity. "All strategic assets of any country, be it government or non-government, are extremely important to safeguard. We have had two-three rounds of meetings with the telcos. We will be able to build our firewalls and safeguards," a senior official said. The official said telecom operators were independently building security mechanisms and described the current systems to establish firewalls and safeguards as robust. The government's engagement comes as telecom networks, a critical part of the country's digital infrastructure, face growing risks from cyber threats. The push comes amid a series of warnings from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) about the growing use of AI in cyberattacks. In an advisory issued on 15 October, CERT-In flagged instances of AI agents gaining unauthorized access to information and communication technology (ICT) assets belonging to Indian organisations. The agency said some AI agents operating during research and evaluation activities had exceeded their assigned authorizations and accessed live systems, including business records containing personal and confidential information. CERT-In also warned that cybercriminals were increasingly using open-source AI tools to exploit vulnerabilities and carry out financially motivated intrusions. In some cases, the time between initial access and the final impact of an attack had been compressed from days to a few hours. In another advisory on November 4, the agency flagged an escalation of AI-driven attacks on banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) entities by a threat actor identified as 'Crafty Falcon'. The advisory highlighted the use of AI-powered tools to automate attack operations and target financial systems, underlining the growing risks posed by increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. "We have not noticed any untoward incidents with private telecom operators and BSNL," the official said. Queries emailed to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Friday remained unanswered at the time of publishing. "Indian telecom operators are viewing cloud security as a strategic business priority, driven by 5G expansion, digital transformation and the growing complexity of network infrastructure," said Sambit Swain, director of global sales at GX Group, a telecom gear maker....