Cyber attacks happen every minute, every day, all over the world. They pother and they plague!
Even small startups, let alone the largest organizations, are carped at by cyber attacks. Given the above, it doesn’t quite come as a surprise – malicious incidents that target business alone have been on a rise from 82,000 to 159,700 within a span of a year.
This comes along as a proved exhibit after hackers have divulged into cracking new attack methods, driven by ransomware.
Cyber Risk is a Growing Challenge!
According to a survey conducted by Netrika Consulting, a risk and integrity management firm, only 18 per cent of organisations have a dedicated IT staff. However, 21 per cent of the company does not have dedicated employees.
The survey covered 1,800 respondents from manufacturing, BFSI, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, NBFC and IT/ITES.
According to the survey, 18 per cent of an organisation has IT strength of just 1 to 3 employees. But what comes as a shock is that 65 per cent of participating organisations do not have a dedicated platform that can deftly manage network security.
Total of 62 per cent organisations reports IT breach in the form of virus attack, malware ransomware, phishing, etc. while only 32 per cent didn’t complain of a breach over a span of 12 months.
According to US-based Software Company Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report, India positions itself in the second place (not in glory, of course) in the worst cyber-crime affected country around the globe, trailing along closely behind the US.
Netrika Consultancy survey notes that many corporates are not very keen on keeping a regulation over their cybersecurity measures which leads to many cyber attacks.
Cyber Attacks and the Thin Ice, We Stand on!
Organisations in India are have gone Hollywood due to cyber incidents and their ramifications. However, what remains as an unavoidable task is that organisations, be it public or private, should try to secure themselves in an untainted way, and not just in papers!
Herein, one revelation comes interesting that cyber organisations in India are defined and determined by their size. Larger the organisation, larger is the bent of deploying cyber defence tactics.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018, cyber attacks are considered to be one of the major risk as well as concern for business leaders, all over the world. According to this survey analysis, a single cloud provider could cause a financial damage that goes up in numbers and can be as high as $50 billion to $120 billion.
What can be more staggering is that the aggregate cost of a cybercrime goes up north with $1 trillion. However, a year-long record of a natural disaster, which when subsumed, amounts to $300 billion!
“While there is growing awareness to regularly update an organisation’s cyber preparedness and defence mechanisms, a large number of institutions wake up to this reality only post an incident which often leads to a loss of reputation and/or financial misappropriation,” Nikhil Bedi, Deloitte India.
According to Nikhil Bedi, robust security systems are highly crucial for any company or institution which keep a track of customer data and assets, which at most times, include funds and transaction details too.
Cyber Attacks Bulldoze India to Invest in Cyber Security!
Cyber attacks continue their uphill march, without any hurdle due to the callousness of certain regulations and mostly, due to negligence. Detection methods implemented previously have largely failed in their impact. Here is a two-pronged why and wherefore! Either a company don’t know what exactly is the need of the hour, or it may so be the case, that companies don’t have resources to counter cybercriminals!
An enhanced information security here will facilitate companies to protect themselves against cyber threats in the future.
However, what remains difficult to foresee is the future of cybersecurity measures and the shrewdness of today’s cybercriminals, which are continuously shifting.
But here’s the silver lining – Although amid uncertainty and fragility, the urgency of taking up challenge and moulding strategies for security has also intensified!
