Cyber Attacks Rise 20% in India: Indusface Report

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) A 20 per cent rise has been seen in the number of cyber attacks on Indian clients in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter, IT security firm Indusface said on Tuesday.

The company claimed that it blocked more than 7.15 billion cyber attacks on its client base in India.

"The cyberattacks in India grew by 20 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2024. In 2024, the holiday season witnessed 132 per cent higher attacks as compared to a usual day, as cybercriminals tried to take advantage of reduced security monitoring, increased online transactions, and delayed patching due to holiday code freeze," the company said in a report.

Indusface claims to have an enterprise customer base of over 500 in the country.

The Banking, Financial, and Insurance Services (BFSI) sector saw twice as many attacks per site compared to the global average and the insurance sector faced a 2.5 times increase in bot-driven threats and an 8 times surge in vulnerability attacks from the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2024.

The company found that healthcare remained one of the most vulnerable sectors, with 100 per cent of monitored healthcare websites encountering bot-driven attacks.

"The rise in automated cyber threats posed significant risks to patient data security and hospital infrastructure," the report said. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were disproportionately affected, experiencing 236 per cent more DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks than large enterprises due to relatively weaker security infrastructure and limited access to dedicated cybersecurity teams.

"Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their tactics, leveraging different attack vectors based on industry, application type, and company size. APIs, for example, face 2x attacks per host when compared to web apps. Similarly, the insurance industry faces 2.5x more bot attacks per app compared to other industries," Indusface, Founder and CEO, Ashish Tandon said.

The report also found that 26,000 critical and high-severity vulnerabilities were identified in 2024, yet 33 per cent remained unpatched for over six months, leaving organizations exposed.