35% of Indian users were attacked by web-borne threats in 2020

From online shopping to e-learning, the number of users online increased multi-fold this year, and so did the cyber threats targeted at them.

Remotely working employees and students were vigorously targeted by cybercriminals due to the lack of necessary security solutions on their devices through out 2020.  (Pixabay)

According to a report shared by Kaspersky, 35% of online users in India were attacked by local threats in 2020. Kaspersky products detected and blocked 200,238,155 local threats on the consumer devices between January and December 2020. 

Last year was not only about the pandemic but also about the rising number of cyberattacks across the world. The increased activity of nefarious cybercriminal groups became a major concern for government bodies, enterprises as well as employees, students working and studying remotely and internet users globally. 

From online shopping to e-learning, the number of users online increased multi-fold this year, and so did the cyber threats targeted at them. 

The Kaspersky report detected and blocked 133,318,878 internet- borne threats in 2020. This affected 35% of the internet users in India, placing us on the 43rd rank globally. 

These were social engineering attacks where a user was made to download a malicious file to his/her device. And this usually happened when cybercriminals made their victims believe that they are downloading a legitimate program in the guise of various scams related to Covid-19 and other trending issues throughout the year. 

Remotely working employees and students were vigorously targeted by cybercriminals due to the lack of necessary security solutions on their devices. As of January 2021, the number of global users encountering various threats using popular online learning platforms as a lure reached 270,171 — a 60% increase when compared to the first half of 2020.

45% of the online users in India were targeted by local cyber threats like rootkits and removable tools like malicious USB drives and other offline methods. Brute force attacks on Remote Desktop Protocols (RDPs) also saw a massive increase of 242% globally. 

The number of detections in India alone went as high as 36 million (36356139) in 2020 between January- November.

The share of attacks hosted by servers in India was 0.19% that is 7,714,258 incidents in the period January-December 2020 were recorded, which puts India in the 18th place worldwide. While spear phishing and web-skimming were prominent threat vectors in 2020, the cybercriminals also used social media platforms to target their victims and gain financial credentials and other sensitive data.

The cyber attacks have not stopped. And we need to remain vigilant. Here are some fundamental steps to follow to ensure security online - 

- Do not click on links sent by strangers and avoid downloading documents and other files via unknown mails. 

- Keep your operating systems up to date, look out for security patches rolled out for your devices and install a reliable security solution like Kaspersky Internet Security to keep your devices secure.

- Don't just use strong and unique passwords, but also deploy two- factor authentication for all your online accounts

- Back up your important data regularly and avoid using public wi-fi without having a secure VPN connection on your devices.

- Be smart with what you post online and try to share very little personal and financial information on the internet

- Be careful and suspicious while surfing online in order to avoid falling prey to unusually good offers on the internet.