Cyber attacks: Have India's neighbours turned culprits?

As cyber criminals continue to strike with impunity, private and government companies in India face tough task of securing their data.....

• 2011: 15,000 Indian websites hacked
• 2012: 112 government websites hacked in first three months
• CERT India: 2460 Indian websites were hacked during February 2012

These numbers point to how security measures have often failed organisations, leaving them vulnerable to cyber attacks. A renowned Indian company came under cyber attack recently when its website was unaccessible for hours.

What was more serious was the fact that it involved blackmailing too as the attackers left a note stating they would continue the attacks unless huge amount was transferred to their account.

This is not an isolated incident, but it is one of the very few to be reported. The attacks come in various forms like Distributed Denial Of Service, phishing attacks or even military grade attacks.

The latest India Risk Survey 2012, published by Pinkerton, a consulting firm, finds that the cyber crime rate in India has gone up by 50 per cent and during the last five years, around 9,000 Indian websites, including various government departments, have been hacked. Many government websites, some of them carrying sensitive information, have become victims of cross-border hacking, mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and China.

The survey also points out that cases of data theft have been reported from almost every industrial and corporate hub of India. However, banking industry is found to be most vulnerable to phishing attacks in India.........

India lost around Rs. 171.94 crores ($38.2mn) in 2011 to phishing attacks, according to RSA, the security division of EMC, which has released its findings on phishing attacks in that year. Furthermore, RSA put the total loss at Rs 5760 crore ($1.28bn) globally. RSA has also ranked India among the top 5 most targeted countries for phishing attacks..................

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