India was the most cyber-attacked country in the world for three months

Rise in ransomware hacking makes India the second most attacked country globally. After COVID infections, here’s another dubious rise to the No.2 spot for India—ransomware attacks. … “Ransomware is breaking records in 2020,” quipped Lotem Finkelsteen, Check Point’s head of threat intelligence.

The rising cyber attacks has resulted in more and more companies opting for cyber insurance policies to mitigate the cyber-breach risk. About 350 cyber insurance policies have been sold in India till 2018, which is a 40% increase from that in 2017.

While IT, banking and financial services were early adopters of cyber insurance, a new demand has arisen among manufacturing, pharmaceutical, retail, hospitality, R&D and IP-based organisations.

Number of hacking attempts using credential stuffing across the world stands strong at 30 billion in 2018. These hackers use proxy servers located across the globe to mask their identity and attempt to breach databases.

In the video media sector alone, three of the largest credential stuffing attacks in 2018 increased from 133 million to nearly 200 million, the study said. “Credential stuffing attempts can advance to full-blown account takeovers and compromises because people tend to use the same password across multiple websites — or the passwords they are using are easily guessed, and they generated credentials,” the report said.

The market for stolen media and entertainment accounts is thriving. “The media, gaming, and entertainment industries are prized targets for cyber criminals who are looking to trade in stolen information and access. The accounts are sold in bulk, and the goal of hackers is to move their goods by volume, rather than single account sales,” the report said.