India a Big Place Where Compromised Computers are Controlled

Security Company Symantec in its recent Internet Security Threat Report points out that the total number of India-based servers, commanding and controlling compromised PCs has increased 170% during 2008 over that of 2007.

Reportedly during 2008, there were 103,812 different bot-infected PCs in India that averaged at 836 bots per day, a rise of 31% over 2007 says Symantec's report. Also, according to the report, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai together host about 68% of the bot-infected PCs in India that hackers have hijacked to steal secret data from.

State Symantec's security investigators that the steep rise in India's bot-infected PCs is because users have a low adoption rate of security measures like intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, and anti-malware systems.

Furthermore, the social-networking websites too are greatly responsible for growing cyber attacks that strive to generate audiences as well as revenue from advertisements, while eluding e-mail security. Presently, 90% of the entire volume of e-mail is spam.

In the meantime, cyber gangs utilize the opportunity for leveraging ever-new scams. By re-framing strategies for e-mail spamming, the crime gangs attempt to dupe visitors on social networks and manage to get them to accept as well as disseminate data capturing programs, ads promoting bogus products, and malicious computer codes.

Said the security investigators that it is most worrying to find that while cyber crimes are increasing in India, the nation's willingness and capabilities to deal with them are declining by the day. For, today no one can afford to be casual about issues like botnet, spam, denial-of-service attacks, phishing, cyber terrorism, cyber war and so on.

In addition, underground market for trade in people's private information too is expanding in India. Anyone spending a small sum of only few dollars can purchase details of a credit card from the illegal market of cyber-criminals. Also are available social security numbers, bank account numbers and payment card numbers from the same place for an insignificant sum.

However, security specialists stated that different security vendors and business companies all over India contribute vast amounts of resources in defense against cyber attacks, although there is still much to be done.

Related article: India Remains an Easy Target for Hackers in '06

» SPAMfighter News - 4/29/2009