Ransomware and malware attacks are up even as Indian enterprises continue to increase investments in cybersecurity.

India experienced about 700,000 malware attacks in 2022, up from 650,000 in 2021, according to the Trend Micro annual security study.

However, there was a slight decline in the number of malware detections across six critical sectors, indicating that appropriate measures are being taken.

Similarly, India was the second most targeted country in the Asia Pacific & Japan region for ransomware attacks, according to Palo Alto Network’s 2023 Unit 42 Ransomware and Extortion Report.

It was the third most attacked country in 2021.

Globally, too, the number of ransomware attacks have been increasing.

According to Trend Micro, there were a total of 14,983,271 ransomware threats globally in 2022, with 38.06% of the attacks targeting Asia, and 10.51% of those attacks being detected in India.“The data on ransomware and malware attacks in India highlights the ongoing threat to the country’s critical sectors, but there is some good news. Malware detections across key sectors have slightly declined, indicating that appropriate measures are being taken,” said Vijendra Katiyar, country manager for India & SAARC at Trend Micro.

“The increase in overall malware attacks in 2022 compared to the previous year serves as a reminder that organizations and individuals must remain vigilant in protecting their systems and sensitive information from these threats,” Katiyar said.

While the banking sector in India is the most impacted by malware attacks, there was a sharp drop in the number of ransomware attacks on the sector in the past year, dropping from nearly 16,000 to 626 in just a year.

The number of attacks on the government sector remained constant, while manufacturing saw an increase in overall attacks in the same period.

Earlier this week, Sun Pharma cautioned that revenues could be impacted on account of containment measures taken by the firm following a ransomware attack a few weeks ago.

The company said that some business and personal data had been affected on account of a breach in certain data files, and that the exact impact of the ransomware attack was yet unclear.

“With Indian companies becoming increasingly cloud-based, it is important that they closely monitor the health, inventory, and accuracy of their external attack surface,” said Sean Duca, VP and regional CSO – Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks.

The need to take security more seriously is evident given that several enterprises have been hit by ransomware and malware attacks more than once in the past year.

A Barracuda International survey found that 73% of Indian organisations surveyed experienced a successful ransomware attack in 2022, and 45% were hit more than once.

Over half of those hit twice or more paid the ransom to restore encrypted data.

“The number of organizations affected by ransomware in 2022 likely reflects the widespread availability of low cost, accessible attack tools through ransomware-as-a-service offerings,” said Parag Khurana, country manager, Barracuda Networks. “The relatively high proportion of repeat victims suggests that security gaps are not fully addressed after the first incident.”

The industrial sector too saw its share of threats, with over 27% of operation technology computers being affected by malware, according to the Kaspersky ICS threat landscape report. The second half of 2022 saw the highest rate of attacks against industrial sectors, it found.

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