Report: Indian organisations record 18% surge in weekly cyberattacks

As global weekly cyber attacks rose by 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 with respect to the previous year, weekly cyber attacks in India rose 18 per cent according to a report by Check Point Research. (CPR)

Organisations in the country faced an average of 2,108 weekly attacks, according to the report. 

Companies in the education and research sector faced the highest number of attacks, with an average of 2,507 attacks per firm. 

This marks a 15 per cent increase compared the the same period in the previous years.

The rise in cyber attacks in India follows a larger trend in the Asia Pacific region, which experienced the highest year-on-year surge in weekly attacks.

The region faced a weekly average of 1,835 attacks, which marks a 16 per cent increase, as per the report.

Based on the report, one out of every 31 organisations in the world faced a ransomware attack every week.

As the volume of the attacks increased, the report also observed many sophisticated campaigns where bad actors found ways to weaponise legitimate tools. 

For example, some less skilled cyberattackers used ChatGPT to generate codes that could be used in cyberattacks.

Some “trojanised” the 3CXDesktop app for supply chain attacks. 3CX is a popular business communication software.

CPR says its researchers also discovered what they say is the fastest encrypting ransomware ever seen.

Just like it is important to download the latest security patches, it is also important to update all software to the latest version.

Attackers sometimes find entry points into your devices through apps and software.

Since developers of a lot of the widely-used software will be actively searching for these vulnerabilities and patching them out, it makes sense to periodically update the software.