New Delhi, Nov 6: A new report released on Monday by cybersecurity firm Cyfirma has unveiled some alarming statistics regarding cyberattacks in 2022, with India emerging as the most targeted country, accounting for 13.7 percent of all such incidents. The United States followed closely with 9.6 percent, while Indonesia and China registered 9.3 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
The report indicates that India saw a surge in cyberattacks in 2022, particularly on government agencies, where attacks more than doubled in the second half of the year compared to the same period in 2021. Notably, the number of state-sponsored cyberattacks in India witnessed a staggering increase of over 100 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
The report also highlights the sectors most vulnerable to cyberattacks, with healthcare taking the top spot, followed by education, research, government, and military sectors.
Kumar Ritesh, CEO & Founder of Cyfirma, attributed this rise in cyberattacks on India to the country’s growing prominence on the global stage and Western economies favoring India over other large nations. He also pointed to India’s young and tech-savvy population with relatively low cybersecurity maturity as a key factor driving hackers to target critical assets and government agencies, intending to breach them and harm India’s strategic interests.
Additionally, the report revealed that, on average, an organization in India faced 1,866 cyberattacks per week in 2022. The most common types of cyberattacks reported were phishing attacks, malware attacks, and ransomware attacks. Shockingly, around 78 percent of Indian organizations experienced ransomware attacks in 2021, with 80 percent of these attacks resulting in data encryption.
The report also observed 39 campaigns targeting various industries in India between January and July 2023. Suspected groups like FancyBear, TA505, Mission 2025, Stone Panda, and the Lazarus Group were implicated in these campaigns. Notably, 14 of these campaigns were believed to be orchestrated by China state-sponsored groups with the intent of espionage, while 11 campaigns were attributed to North Korea-backed hackers as part of HaaS (Hacking as a Service). Russian threat actors were responsible for 10 attacks, of which only four were state-sponsored.
This report underscores the growing cybersecurity challenges faced by India and the urgent need for enhanced protection of critical assets and government agencies to safeguard the country’s strategic interests.
