India Inc. hit most by malware attacks after US, Japan
The latest report by Switzerland-based IT and cybersecurity company, Acronis, has revealed that companies in India were continuously hit by malware attacks between March and December quarters. Only the United States and Japan faced more attacks than India Inc., said the report. The firm also added that the ransomware detections swelled by 7.8% in the September quarter itself. Here are more details.
Video conferences weren't spared either
According to the report, a total of 1,168 malware attacks per 1,000 clients were detected in India in a month during the aforementioned period. India also became the country where the most number of video conferencing attacks happened — 66% of local companies were targeted, while 62% of the companies said phishing attacks overwhelmed them. These numbers sing tunes about the menace of cybercrime.
Companies increased IT expenditure to control such attacks
Unsurprisingly, companies also invested more money to prevent such attacks. Around 56% of companies increased expenditure to rein in such attacks. Co-founder of Acronis, Stas Protassov, said this year has been extremely challenging for IT companies, hinting at the remote working option. Evidently, most organizations let their employees work from home in wake of the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Bad actors were adjusting to new IT landscape: Protassov
"The year 2020 posed a tremendous number of challenges to IT professionals, organizations, and service providers who support them. What we have seen is how quickly bad actors are adjusting their attacks to the new IT landscape," he said.
BigBasket, WhiteHat Jr. suffered due to attacks
Among the notable Indian firms that suffered in recent days is pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, which is working on the coronavirus vaccine developed by Russia. The data of WhiteHat Jr. and BigBasket were also compromised. Tellingly, what Acronis noted about malware attacks isn't entirely new. Last month, National Cyber Security Coordinator Lt. Gen. (retd.) Rajesh Pant revealed that 375 cyberattacks happened daily.
In 2021, remote workers will be targeted, predicted Acronis
Separately, Check Point Research disclosed that the daily average of ransomware attacks swelled by 50% in the month of September, as compared to 2020's first half. Only the US surged ahead of India, where the attacks grew by 98%. Meanwhile, Acronis predicted that in 2021, remote workers will be targeted more. It also claimed attacks will become automated.
