Cyber attacks targeting India continue to rise — here’s why it’s worrying

• India saw over 695,000 cyber attacks in just six months, according to a study from cyber security firm F-secure.
• India ranked 21st on a list of countries that have seen cyber attacks and 13th among countries with highest number of cyber-criminals.
• Cyber attacks continue to be of concern as they potentially put at risk crucial national infrastructure.

India continues to be battered by frequent cyber attacks with the country seeing over 695,000 cyber attacks between January to June this year, according to a recent study.

Most hackers targeted India were from Russia, the US, and China, said the study from cyber security firm F-secure. Russia accounted for 2,55,589 attacks followed by the US (1,03,458), China (42,544), the Netherlands (19,169) and Germany (15,330), PTI reported citing the study.

In contrast, 73, 482 attacks originated from India during the same period. The highest number of cases involving Indian cyber attackers included attacks towards Austrian organisations with 12,540 attacks, followed by the Netherlands (9,267), the UK (6,347), Japan (4,701), and Ukraine (3,708), stated the report.

India ranked 21st among countries facing cyber attacks with 695,396 cases across the world.

The US, with over 11 million attacks, was the most vulnerable country whereas the highest number of attacks originated from the UK.

The study gathered information from 41 public servers, tracking malware and hacking techniques. The hackers were intentionally allowed to attack the server in order to monitor the volume and source of cyber crime.

Cyber attacks continue to be of concern as they potentially put at risk crucial national infrastructure such as financial markets and transport networks.

The Indian government expects to see a 10% rise in number of cyber attacks in 2018, Hindustan Times recently reported citing government officials. There were about 53,000 cases of cyber attacks in 2017, said the report.

Recently, the Indian government also said it will upgrade its cyber security policy to secure government data and sensitive information.