Spike in cyber attacks in India since lockdown

Security experts in the country believe that there has been a significant spike (about 500%) in the cyber security attacks and breaches in India since the lockdown commenced in March. Internet service providers have confirmed receiving cyberattack alerts from corporate clients almost every alternate day compared with an average of once a week before lockdown was announced as part of measure to contain the spread of Covid-19.

This worrying development becomes important given that last week, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the government’s nodal cyber security agency, had issued an advisory against possible phishing attacks. These attacks could manifest themselves in two forms -one which is targeted at selected individuals, called spear phishing, who may be of high net worth, while the other is done at a mass scale. Industry insiders state that the latter has particularly seen a remarkable rise.

Rajesh Chharia, president of Internet Services Providers Association of India (ISPAI), suggested, “The infrastructure needs to be better prepared. Every alternate day we get a call from a customer saying that the internet is choked, that there has been an attack. Before Covid, this used to be at most once a week affair.” Meanwhile, telecom & internet services providers have been vigilant since they’re anticipating a flurry of cyberattacks.