Data breach threat is real and rising fast in India: Kaspersky Lab

India is among the top five countries in the world to be attacked by ransomware – malware that forces its victims to pay a ransom through certain online payment methods to regain their data. Globally, cybercrimes are on the rise. China tops the chart of countries attacked by mobile malware with over 35 per cent of users becoming victims in one form or the other. India ranks 7th, with 21 per cent of users affected. 

“Every CXO has to realise that IT security is a journey and not a destination. There is no space for ‘it will never happen to us’ or ‘we have the best security in place’. The threat to data is fairly new and many old-fashioned businesses have trouble understanding the real extent of the threats,” Altaf Halde, MD, Kaspersky Lab (South Asia), said. Headquartered in Moscow, Kaspersky Lab is a leading software security group operating in almost 200 countries and territories worldwide. “Each time we hear of an extremely expensive data breach that happened to some company, we believe it won’t happen here. But, unfortunately, it very much could. 

Cybercrime is happening to everyone – from governments to the corner store owner,” Halde said. According to Kaspersky Lab, browsers (48 per cent) continue to be the top application used by cyber criminals to attack machines. This is followed by Android (24 per cent) and Microsoft Office (14 per cent). “Traditionally, the old-school sees every cost as a burden. 

Hence, many organisations believe that each such cost must be contained. But they perhaps fail to see how much more it gives to them in return -- security of data, protection from harmful malware and viruses, ease of running the business and, above all, peace of mind,” Halde explained. Those who can be convinced to invest in cyber security generally opt for the cheapest solution offered. “Many believe that simply updating the anti-virus is enough security. They have trouble understanding the millions of ways in which data can be compromised. Organisations do not wish to invest time and resources in understanding this,” Halde emphasised. In the second quarter of 2016, Kaspersky Lab repelled 172 million malicious attacks via online sources located in 191 countries. 

India, according to Halde, is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world and is slowly becoming popular among hackers thanks to a burgeoning middle-class, coupled with growing disposable incomes and an aspirational lifestyle. 

“A stunning majority of smartphones, computers and tablets are completely without protection and open to cybercrimes in India. As more and more people do online banking transactions, sensitive data like credit card details, ship like credit card details, ship ping address, etc., are open to hacking. So, yes, India is an attractive country for hackers,” Halde pointed out. It is difficult to even fathom how much harm online hacking can cause to sensitive data on government and corporate websites.