India Saw 79 Million Cyberattacks in 2023, According to a report

According to research, India’s technology sector was the most targeted industry, accounting for roughly 33% of all phishing assaults worldwide, making it the third-largest nation behind the US and the UK.

According to a survey by cybersecurity company Zscaler, there has been a 60% increase in phishing assaults worldwide in the last 12 months.

Between January and December 2023, 2 billion phishing transactions were prevented. These transactions provided information for the ThreatLabz 2024 Phishing Report.

“After the United States and the United Kingdom, India was the third-largest nation in the world for phishing attacks in 2023. India’s technology sector was the most often targeted industry, accounting for about 33% of all phishing assaults, according to the research.

According to the report, the financial and insurance industry has emerged as a top target for cybercriminals, with phishing efforts reaching an all-time high in 2023.

“The financial and insurance industry saw a 393 percent rise in assaults over the previous year, along with the biggest number of phishing attempts.

“The increasing reliance on digital financial platforms provides ample opportunities for threat actors to carry out phishing campaigns and exploit vulnerabilities in this sector,” stated the research.

The industrial sector had a 31% increase in phishing attempts between 2022 and 2023, coming in second.

According to the survey, since these industries increasingly rely on data, their increasing usage of AI technology makes them even more ‘lucrative targets’ for phishing operations.

Phishing scams most often targeted the United States (55.9%), the United Kingdom (5.6%) and India (3.9%) in 2023. India was the third most targeted nation, with over 79 million phishing assaults, according to the report.

“There is no question that the quantity and complexity of phishing attempts in the country have increased due to the development of the country’s digital infrastructure, the rise in the population of internet users, and the widespread use of online financial transactions.

“As threat actors find new malicious means to extract and steal user data, steps are being taken by the Indian government, such as the implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, to help circumvent the proliferation of such attack vectors,” stated Sudip Banerjee, CTO, Asia Pacific and Japan Zscaler, Inc.

In 2023, Google, Adobe, and Microsoft were the most replicated corporate brands, with Microsoft coming in front.

The most often abused social media site globally is Telegram, with 7,92,883 phishing attacks; Facebook (5,32,243 phishing hits) and WhatsApp (3,78,968 phishing hits) are next on the list.

Artificial intelligence increases an entity’s susceptibility to cyberattacks, but it also makes hackers’ jobs easier.

“LLMs have made it significantly easier for cybercriminals, even with relatively little coding experience, to carry out multiple stages of a sophisticated phishing attack,” the paper said.