India faces rising cybersecurity threats

Indian businesses face significant cybersecurity risks, ranking among the top five globally targeted markets. 

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Indian enterprises are among the top five markets targeted globally, posing substantial cybersecurity threats. This heightened risk is due to the democratization of data and financial access to previously unbanked populations, along with a surge in digital transactions. 

Anil Valluri, the Managing Director of India & SAARC at Palo Alto Networks, noted a 75% increase in India’s cybersecurity budget allocation for 2023, one of the largest in the APAC region. However, India also witnessed the highest number of disruptive cyberattacks, as reported during the launch of Palo Alto’s “The State of Cybersecurity 2023” report for India.

Valluri added, “India is among the top five most targeted countries globally. Within Japan and APAC, it is the second most targeted country. The report overwhelmingly says that India is feeling the heat across industries and transportation, banking, governments, enterprises and manufacturing segments among others.”  

According to the report, 66% of Indian manufacturing firms face heightened risks due to unsecured IoT devices connected to their networks, a significantly higher percentage compared to other sectors. Additionally, 48% of Indian public, transport, and logistics organizations, as well as 50% of manufacturing organizations, believe that the adoption of 5G technology will expand security vulnerabilities.

It’s worth noting that 69% of transport and logistics companies, along with 67% of government and essential services, have more than half of their infrastructure operating on the cloud.

In addition, there is a significant concern regarding cybersecurity threats in the country. These threats come from both state actors seeking disruption and cyber fraud actors looking to cause economic harm. According to the report, 67% of Indian government and essential service entities reported encountering a surge of over 50% in disruptive attacks. As a result, India faces a substantial risk of cyberattacks targeting its critical infrastructure, public sector, and essential services.

The report found that more than 9 in 10 organizations perform regular assessments and forensics for operational technology (OT) related cybersecurity incidents, this is positive news. 

This seems driven by the fact that 89% of these organizations have IT and OT cybersecurity professionals working under the same/ combined team, higher than the South East Asia average of 82%.