India ranks among the top 5 countries at risk for cyber attacks in 2016

Sophos, one of the global leaders in network and endpoint security revealed a SophosLabs research that highlighted a growing trend among cyber criminals to target and even filter out specific countries when designing ransomware and other malicious cyber attacks.

The research includes information from millions of endpoints worldwide and was analyzed by the team at SophosLabs.

To lure more victims with their attacks, cyber criminals are now crafting customized spam to carry threats using regional vernacular, brands and payment methods for better cultural compatibility.

To be as effective as possible, these scam emails now impersonate local postal companies, tax and law enforcement agencies and utility firms, including phony shipping notices, refunds, speeding tickets and electricity bills.

Their analysis also indicated the Threat Exposure Rates (TER) for countries during the first months of 2016.

Algeria at 30.7 percent, Bolivia at 20.3 percent, Pakistan at 19.9 percent, China at 18.5 percent and India at 16.9 percent are the five countries with the highest percentage of endpoints exposed to a malware attack and are thus more prone to cyber attacks.

Nations ranked with the lowest TER include France at 5.2 percent, Canada at 4.6 percent, Australia at 4.1 percent, the U.S. at 3 percent, and the U.K. at 2.8 percent.