India witnessed the highest number of cyberattacks in Asia in 2022, according to a recent report by cyber-secuirty firm CloudSEK. Globally, the country was ranked second in terms of cyberattacks after the US last year. Cases of cyberattacks and hackings grew by 24.3 per cent in India in 2022, the Global Threat Landscape Report 2021-2022 said.
The report highlighted that the Asia-Pacific region resgistered the most cyberattacks in the last two years. The region accounted for 20.4 per cent of all cyberattacks in 2021 and 24.1 percent of all the major cyberattacks in the year 2022 across the world.
Asia-Pacific was the main target of hackers across the globe, witnessing an increase of 26.43 per cent in cyberattack cases, according to the CloudSEK report.
North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe continued to remain the most targeted and vulnerable areas in terms of cyberattacks in 2021 and 2022.
Europe was ranked the second most targeted region in 2022, seeing an increase in number of attacks by 8.28 per cent. It was in the third spot in 2021. The increase in number of attacks was due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war last year, the report cited.
READ: India Stands Forever For Humanity: Jaishankar On Sending Relief To Quake-Hit Turkey
Although North America saw a dip in hackings, it was ranked the third most targeted region in 2022. The report noted that North America witnessed a decline in online attacks cases from 18.9 per cent in 2021 to 16 per cent in 2022.
A security researcher from CloudSEK TRIAD, said, "2022 observed an increase in cybercrime with a surge in sophisticated and targeted cyber-attacks. This can be attributed to an increase in underground activity leading to a rise in the utility of malicious tools and malware.”
ALSO READ: PM Modi Wears Blue Sadri Jacket In Parliament. Here's What Is Special About It
The emergence of a number of new ransomware groups and the persistence of old ones resulted in an exponential increase in cyberattacks.
"Sectors like electric vehicles grabbed the attention of threat actors owing to the new technologies plagued with various vulnerabilities," IANS quoted the researcher as saying.
ALSO READ: Chhawla Case: Accused Commits Murder After Being Acquitted, SC Agrees To Examine Review Plea
Online ransomware attacks grew drastically from 0.3 percent in 2021 to 8 percent in 2022.
When it comes to attacks in the government sector, the number grew from 4.1 per cent in 2021 to 12.1 per cent in 2022. However, sectors like IT and technology, e-commerce, media and entertainment, and marketing industries witnessed a decline in cyberattack cases. However, all these industries remained in the top 10 list of industries with targeted attacks.
(With IANS inputs)