Ranking India among the top five countries in the world with highest incidents of cyber crime, a new report by Symantec Corporation declares that the nation has also become the ransomware capital of the Asia-Pacific region. Nearly 11 per cent of cyber crime victims in India are targeted by ransomware, a class of malware that restricts access to a virus-affected computer and demands a ransom for its creator.
The findings were included in the 2013 Norton Report, of which Symantec released its India findings on Tuesday. The report notes that the average cost per cyber crime victim has gone up from `11,837 in 2012 to `12,762.
“Today’s cyber-criminals are using more sophisticated attacks, such as ransomware and spear-phishing, which yield more money per attack than ever before. With 66 per cent of Indian consumers using their mobile devices for both work and play, there are new security risks for enterprises as cyber-criminals have the potential to access even more valuable information,” said Ritesh Chopra, Symantec Corporation. The report stated that in the last 12 months, 56 per cent of cyber-crime victims in India said they had experienced online bullying, stalking, hate crimes and other forms of harassment.
Approximately 63 per cent of smart-phone users in the country also faced some form of cyber-crime in the past over. The report said this may be due to increasingly risky behaviour by the users. This includes nearly 61 per cent of people using unsecured Wi-Fi networks to access social networks, 44 per cent engaging in online shopping and 42 per cent of phone users accessing their bank accounts.
The Norton report is based on self-reported experiences of more than 13,000 adult respondents across 24 countries.