Infoblox Cyber Threat Intelligence Report finds sharp rise in cybercrime, including 4,000% increase in phishing emails

Infoblox, the leader in cloud-first DNS management and security, has released the Q1 2022 Cyberthreat Intelligence Report that shows South Asian e-commerce markets, including India, have been under continuous attacks. It is not surprising that India has seen a 4,000% increase in the number of phishing emails.

The growing use of mobile and IoT devices, and an overall increase in remote work as result of the COVID19 pandemic, has created ideal circumstances for cyberattacks. Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology introduced the National Cyber Security Strategy 2021, a policy that aims to tighten online security and build a legislative framework to address the challenges in this space. The move acknowledges the underlying urgent need to combat cybercrime in India.

According to the report, cyberattack activity has driven the Indian cybersecurity services and products to a total of US$9.85 billion in revenue in 2021. Cybersecurity services industry grew from US$4.3 billion in 2019 to US$8.48 billion in 2021.

Similarly, the cybersecurity products industry grew from just US$740 million in 2019 to US$1.37 billion in 2021. In roughly the same time period, India’s cybersecurity workforce grew from approximately 110,000 employees in 2019 to over 218,000 in 2021.

In 2020, approximately 82% of Indian companies suffered ransomware attacks, which drove the impact of recovery from ransomware activity in India to the tune of approximately US$1.1 million in 2020 to US$3.38 million in 2021. According to official estimates, in 2021, ransomware attacks increased by 120%.

With large and well-known organizations, such as Air India and Justpay (which handles payments for online marketplaces including Amazon) experiencing security breaches, robust cybersecurity is essential. Organizations are choosing to enhance technology and cybersecurity by making significant investments in improving defences and reducing vulnerabilities. The protection of critical DNS assets has become a core part of a company’s cyber defence strategy.

As India dives deeper into digitalisation, all organizations – especially those that have embraced work from home and digital transformation – will need to secure future expansion of its IT operations. It has become crucial for IT teams, and not just those in e-commerce companies, to understand the underlying need for an integrated DNS security platform, among other frameworks, to neutralize the threat of cyberattacks. In the wake of growing cyber attacks, the urgent need to combat this has become a high priority in India.