Indian Tier-2 cities increasingly targetted by cyber criminals: K7 Computing report

MUMBAI: Cybersecurity provider K7 Computing in its second quarter Cyber Threat Monitor (CTM) said that due to lower awareness among companies and cyber users in Tier-2 regions, it has led them to becoming a relatively easier target for cyber criminals across India.

According to the study, Patna registered the highest percentile of cyberattacks at 47% compared to the rest of the Tier-2 cities covered in the study, and higher than any Tier-1 city. Guwahati, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, and Jaipur witnessed a massive 45%, 44%, 43% and 40% of cyber users coming under attack. The study states that approximately three out of every ten Indian cyber users encountered one or more cyberattacks, while metro cities have experienced a similar number of cyberattacks when compared to the previous quarter.

Commenting on the findings, Mr. J Kesavardhanan, Founder & CTO of K7 Computing said, “It is definitely an area of real concern for the country that considers itself a nation of villages. The positive trend of fast-growing Indian towns and smaller cities on the global landscape is certainly attracting the attention of cyber criminals who are becoming more and more sophisticated. It is not only a major threat to enterprises in these areas but also to consumers who are becoming heavy cyber users because of low Internet data cost, and easy and affordable availability of devices which can be exploited.”

Among metro cities, the cyber attacks in Delhi increased in Q2 with a 6% increase in the quarter-on-quarter infection rate. The Infection Rate in Cyber City Hyderabad is 41% from 39% recorded last quarter. Bengaluru and Pune experienced 39% and 35% of cyberattacks, like the previous quarter. Despite a 2% decrease in infection rate from the last quarter, Chennai remains most vulnerable at 46%. Kolkata follows soon after at 41%. Ahmedabad, at 37%, witnessed a 1% drop in infection rate compared to the previous quarter, and Mumbai had an identical 30%, according to the findings of the report.

For the report K7’s real-world telemetry data from 7 million unique devices and security incident investigation data were studied and presented in the form of an index. The report tracked cybersecurity areas, such as enterprise, mobile, mac, windows and IoT, across India covering 20 Indian cities including Metros and Tier-1 and Tier-2 regions, as well as State Capitals and high-user Union Territories, the company said.