Kochi: The first half of 2024 has witnessed a significant increase in cyber-attacks across various sectors in the country. The targets include one university, two colleges, and several business groups in Kerala, according to a report prepared by a cyber security firm based in Kochi and Delaware, US.
The "India Breach Report," prepared by Technisanct using Falconfeeds, its threat intelligence platform for cyber security professionals, has listed a total of 593 it could identify from January to July. The incidents are categorised into data breach, data leak, ransomware, and access sale/leak.
According to the report, data breaches top the list of cyber attacks, with 388 incidents in six months. This is followed by 107 data leaks. The report has identified 39 cases of ransomware and 59 incidents of access sale/leak.
"From March to April, there was a marked increase in cyber incidents, peaking in May, followed by a slight decrease in June and a more notable drop in July. This surge in activity coincided with the general elections from April 19 to June 1, 2024, highlighting the opportunistic behaviour of threat actors who exploit periods of heightened national activity," the report states.
The report states that the higher number of data breaches highlights the vulnerabilities in data protection measures.
"The thriving underground market for unauthorised access to corporate and government networks underscores the importance of strong access control measures, regular monitoring, and swift response to unauthorised access attempts.
The report flags education and research as the most impacted sectors. From January to June 2024, the government and public sector in India emerged as the second most targeted by cyber attacks, with 71 victims.
These included military, defence, law enforcement, and government departments from different states and union territories. Affected regions included Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The victims who fell prey to the cyber attackers in Kerala include a university, a major jeweller chain, three schools, two polytechnics, two food brands and an apparel company.
The ransomware landscape in India has seen significant activity from various groups, including LOCKBIT 3.0, DARKVAULT, BianLian, Kill Security, RansomHub, Abyss, CL0P, MALLOX, Snatch, and STORMOUS.
The report states that the National Disaster Management Authority's volunteers' data was breached on June 25, 2024, and 93,000 lines containing information like name, gender, blood group, DOB, email, and address were violated. Data from police forces in some South Indian states were also breached.
Explaining the significance of the report, Nandakishore Harikumar, the CEO of Technisanct, said that the rising cases highlight the need to be vigilant and aware of the dangers of cybersecurity breach "which has been at our doorstep for a while."
Technisanct's flagship product, Falcon Feeds, is a tool for threat actor-focused security monitoring. It serves over 200 customers, primarily in Europe and the US, by monitoring 4000 threat actors. The company's clients include a department of the Singapore government, the Government of Quebec, Canada, KPMG and PwC.
Nandakishore said Technisanct was launched with the mission of democratising cybersecurity and making it accessible to everyone. "I forayed into the world of cybersecurity as part of research around 2015-16. I was shocked to find the credit card details of a native of Changanassery on the dark web in 2016. That was the moment I realised the threat was on our doorstep," he said.
Nandakishore, a native of Mavelikkara, who founded Technisanct after working in the IT sector and co-founding a couple of tech startups, said India is becoming an innovation hub and has a huge opportunity in the vast field of cybersecurity. "In 2019, I attended a conference in Israel. There were 30 banks participating, and they asked us who would buy a cyber security product from India. Now we have 12 customers from Israel," he said.