Cyberspace a serious concern of National Security

Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility —where businesses, governments, and society all have a role to play. With widespread digital transformation, aided by COVID-19 and remote working, data is more vulnerable than ever before. India witnessed over 18 million cyber-attacks and threats, at an average of nearly 200,000 threats every day, in the first three months of 2022. This raise points to the fact that awareness needs to be year-round.

Cyber threats such as online fraud, ransomware, phishing attacks, and SQL injection attacks are becoming increasingly common with each passing day. Data breaches have cost Indian companies an average of Rs 17.6 crore in 2022 so far. Malicious actors are intensifying attacks on critical cloud infrastructure with new, sophisticated approaches. With this, deepfakes and cryptocurrency-related scams are among the most prevalent around the world.

With increase in technology adoption among Indian businesses, we are also seeing a rapid increase in the prevalence and sophistication of cyber-crime and cyber espionage, compromising organizational networks and data. These incidents increase an organization’s risk of fraud, intellectual property theft, network incapacitation and damage to brand and corporate reputation – all of which can have far reaching and expensive consequences.

As India is moving towards more and more digitalization in all spheres, cyberspace has become a serious concern of National Security. Even as India’s internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 million internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern. Organizations therefore need to spend more time understanding these cyber threats and developing specific measures to address them.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, India reported 52,974 cases of cybercrime in 2021, an increase of over 5 per cent from 2020 (50,035 cases) and over 15 per cent from 2019 (44,735 cases).

By the end of this year, about 60% of the Indian population (840 million), will have access to the internet. The flip side of this is, increasing cybercrimes. Over 18 million cases of cyber-attacks and threats were recorded within the first three months of 2022 in India, with an average of nearly 200,000 threats every day.

The growing use of AI and ML technologies in many businesses is creating a new set of trust issues. AI and ML, with expected benefits ranging from increased efficiency and productivity to improved ability in generating predictive insights into customers and markets.

The danger is that these technologies, if badly handled, raise cybersecurity and privacy risks with potential for reputational damage and regulatory sanction.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA