Although traditional attacks such as phishing and malware account for 90% of attacks, the surge in the number of targeted attacks is a major source of concern (which accounts for 9% currently). Solar winds and Wannacry are two examples of targeted attacks that are damaging to any organisation or country.
Cybercrime has increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and expanding digitisation. According to experts speaking at Pursuit 2021, an event on cybersecurity hosted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, the number of breaches in India increased by 2,000% during the pandemic.
During the epidemic, there has been an increase in targeted attacks, and “cyberwar has started” according to Gulshan Rai, India’s first Cybersecurity Coordinator and Distinguished Fellow, ORF.
Rai said “In India, almost every sector has been breached because they all are inter-connected. During the pandemic, the number of breaches increased by 2,000 per cent because we were using ASL or DSL from home. ASL, DSL, fibre, nothing is secured, this whole scenario reflects that your sensitive information is at risk and is being used for a variety of purposes, causing financial fraud, causing a threat to national security,”
Meanwhile, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which was launched in August 2019, has received over four lakh complaints, with over half of them relating to financial scams, according to Ashok Kumar, Director, Ministry of Home Affairs.
The NCRP portal provides insight into what kind of complaints/frauds are trending.
Kumar said “The recently developed module — Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, on the portal has helped us save Rs 5 crore within two to three months,”
Once a complaint is filed with the police, the new module, which has been released with the helpline number 155260, notes down specific parameters of the complaint, which are then entered into the system, alerts the banks on any suspicious transactions, saving the targeted amount.