India Ranked Among Least Cyber Secure Countries in the World

In a recent ranking marked by consumer tech review company Comparitech, India is positioned at 15th rank, gaining the title of one of the worst countries in terms of cyber security. The ranking system was arranged in such a manner where number one was the least and country at the 60th rank was the most secure one.

Editor of Comparitech, Paul Bischoff said – “That puts it (India) far below the average, about the same as China.”

India experienced a chain of cyber-crimes in the past year. ATM scam of Rs 20 lakh in Kolkata and Fraudulent bank transfers by stealing SIM card information are well-suited examples that occurred in July and August months of 2018.

To recall, an unidentified hacker launched an attack to gradually steal $13.5 million (approximately Rs 96 crore) from Cosmos Bank. From the Pune-based bank, the amount was offloaded to a firm’s account located in Hong-Kong. Additionally, Aadhaar which is the world’s biggest biometric ID programme became a victim of a series of data breaches.

Malware Infections in Devices

The criteria that determined the ranking were:

• percentage of mobiles infected with malware

• the share of computers infected with malware

• number of financial malware attacks

• percentage of telnet attacks

• percentage of attacks by crypto miners

• the best-prepared countries for cyber attacks

• the countries with the most up-to-date legislation

Further, Bischoff said – “The main factors contributing to India’s lack of cyber security are a high percentage of both mobile and desktop devices infected with malware.”

Considering the percentage of malware-infected countries, India was among the top 10 worst countries. The malware infection here includes – software architecture that has easy unauthorized access to, leading to destruction and disruption in devices. Also, the trade of cheap smartphones with little knowledge of usage is fuelling the issue dangerously.

When it comes to desktops, 22 percent of Indian witnessing cyber-threats on bigger devices. Two years ago, in February, the Indian government launched free anti-malware tools. Obviously, due to poor performance and efficiency, the adaptation to such tech-enrichment is still lagging.

Comparitech editor noted that a considerable percentage of Telnet attacks against IoT devices emerging from the Indian subcontinent. Factually, Telnet is a text-oriented network concord that is utilized for accessing the computer over internet nexus.