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Published 19:08 IST, December 26th 2023

Over 760 cyberthreats detected every minute in India this year: Report

Banking sector, government services most suspectable to be targeted by cyber criminals.

Reported by: Business Desk
Edited by: Saqib Malik
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Cyberattacks
Cyberattacks | Image: Unsplash

As many as 761 cybersecurity threats were detected per minute in India during 2023, says a report prepared by Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and Pune-based cybersecurity multinational Quickheal’s enterprise arm Seqrite. The report "State of  Cybersecurity in the Country", has revealed that Surat and Bengaluru reported the highest number of detections in the city-wise breakup of malware attacks at 15 and 14 per cent respectively, while Telangana (15 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (14 per cent) top the list in terms of malware detections in Indian states.

The report said over 400 million detections happened across 8.5 million endpoints.  There was one ransomware incidence for 650 detections, but one malware incidence in every 38,000 malware detections. Cryptojacking, or threats that embed within a computer or mobile device and uses its resources to mine cryptocurrency, emerged as a significant threat in the report with over 5.28 million detections in a year.

In terms of industries, automobiles were impacted the highest. As per public policy expert Jaijit Bhattacharya, several new-age four-wheelers have automation technology that is connected to servers in China and can be a threat to national security.

Government and education sector followed next in terms of impacted sectors, as work and studies move online across domains.

Fileless attacks, which leave no minimal traces on the disk, emerged as a potent threat for systems as per the findings of the 76-page report.

Incidents related to cyberattacks surged in the beginning of 2023 while detections peaked sharply in June, the statistics reflect. 

'Hacktivism' has emerged as a significant threat on the policy front with such groups from the neighbouring countries announcing plans to attack websites of private and public entities in India during the G20 Summit. 

The report highlights that more than 30 hacktivist groups targeted around 600+ government and private entities through DDoS attacks, defacements, and data leaks. "Hizbullah Cyber Team" emerged as the top hacktivist with 176 attacks in 2023, with Indonesian hacktivist groups also joining the spectrum in top 10 hackings.

The most targeted sectors were government, followed by finance, technology, public, and education industries. 

“As the banking sector embraces digital transformation and innovation, it faces increasing and evolving cyber threats from various actors who want to exploit systems, data, and customers,” Mahesh Kulkarni, Managing Director of British universal bank Barclays said.

Similar coordinated attacks are anticipated next year during India’s General Elections and the Paris Olympics, as per the report.

Updated 19:08 IST, December 26th 2023