Online Malicious Threats Rising Rapidly in India

According to a research by Symantec, the international security solutions vendor, India continues to be an easy target for cyber attacks, as is apparent from an increasing volume of web-based attacks arising mainly from China and the United States.

Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, Symantec India, said that computers in India were poised to encounter enormous malicious Internet activities owing to the fast expansion in the infrastructure of the Internet, burgeoning number of broadband users, and rising incidences of software piracy, as reported by The Hindu on May 4, 2009.

Symantec's report "Internet Security Threat for 2008" states that computers in China and the US were primarily responsible for the web-based attacks against India.

Moreover, Web surfing continued to be the main reason behind new infections during 2008. Using toolkits for customized attack codes, attackers create and distribute computer malware to seize sensitive information from end-users.

Furthermore, Symantec developed over 1.6 Million new signatures for malicious codes during 2008, equivalent to over 60% of total similar signatures the Company had ever developed. This was in reaction to the fast growing threats from fresh malware, volume-wise and propagation-wise. These signatures enabled Symantec to prevent a mean of 245 Million malware attacks all over the world during each month of 2008.

Further, India was placed first with regards to receiving worms and viruses and second with regards to receiving backdoors and Trojans, prompting Symantec to rank the country high among the nations or regions worldwide from where the maximum volume of malicious activities occur or originate. China, meanwhile, ranked No.1 in the total malicious Internet activity in the Asia-Pacific-Japan region during 2008, just like in 2007.

The year of 2008, according to computer security professionals and businesses, was replete with bot-infected PCs, spam zombies, malware, phishing and new threats. The experts cautioned enterprises in India about the need to enhance their security protocols as well as measures to combat Internet threats, otherwise the country would keep on being an easy target for online threats.

Finally, Symantec's report notes that India was among the first three countries witnessing high malware activities in the APJ region.

Related article: Online Card Fraud Shows Greater Tendency Than Chip and Pin

» SPAMfighter News - 5/11/2009