The average weekly cyber attacks in India have gone up by 18 per cent in the first quarter of this calendar year, over the comparable quarter last year. The average number of attacks on an organisation has been put at 2,108 in the first quarter.

This is, however, 2.5 times more than the global increase in average attacks a week. In the first quarter, weekly attacks rose by 7 per cent. The average number of attacks on an organisation globally is put at 1,248, far lower than India’s numbers, according to a report by Check Point Research.

The surge in the number of cyber attacks on India also surpasses the number for the Asia-Pacific region, which witnessed an average of 1,835 attacks an organisation, marking a 16 per cent increase.

One out of every 31 organisations worldwide experienced a ransomware attack every week. 

“While the volume of attacks has only risen marginally, we have witnessed several sophisticated campaigns from cyber criminals, who are finding ways to weaponise legitimate tools for malicious gains,” the report said.

“Recent examples include using ChatGPT for code generation, to help even less-skilled threat actors effortlessly launch cyberattacks,” it said.

The report, however, said there is no scope for complacency. “CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) need to focus on developing and implementing a security strategy that removes any blind spots and weaknesses across the entire digital landscape,” it suggested.

Sector-wise attacks

The education/ research sector seemed to be the worst, averaging 2,507 attacks per organisation per week in the quarter, showing a 15 per cent growth over the same quarter last year.

The Government/ military sector was the second most targeted, with an average of 1,725 attacks a week, showing a 3 per cent increase from the previous year.

The healthcare sector experienced a significant rise in attacks, with an average of 1,684 attacks per week, marking a substantial year-over-year increase of 22 per cent.

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