<div>The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, reveals that India has seen a 280 per cent increase in bot infections which is continuing to spread to a larger number of emerging cities in India. With the prevalence of such infections, it is not surprising that the country accounts for nearly 15 percent of global bot-net spam, responsible for disseminating an estimated 280 million spam messages per day worldwide.<br /><br /> In addition the report highlights a 42 per cent surge during 2012 in global targeted attacks, as compared to the prior year. Designed to steal intellectual property, these targeted cyber espionage attacks are increasingly hitting small businesses, which are the target of 31 per cent of these attacks across the world. Small businesses are attractive targets themselves and a stepping stone to ultimately reaching larger companies.<br /><br />"This year's ISTR shows a clear focus among cybercriminals at targeting individuals, systems and organizations where the highest profits can be made," said Anand Naik, Managing Director-Sales, India & SAARC, Symantec. "India continues to rank high in the list for even the most basic threats, pointing to an urgent need for improved awareness levels and security measures, even as the country's adoption of Internet and mobile technologies is on the rise."<br /> <br /><strong>Emerging Indian Cities Remain on Cyber Attackers' Radar</strong><br />While cities including Bhubaneswar, Surat, Cochin, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam and Indore continue to see bot infections, some of the new entrants inducted to the list of bot infected locations in 2012 are Kota, Ghaziabad and Mysore. Bot infected computer activities can be classified as actively attacking bots or bots that send out spam such as spam zombies. Spam zombies are remotely controlled, compromised systems specifically designed to send out large volumes of junk or unsolicited email messages. The email messages can be used to deliver malicious code and phishing attempts. Globally, India is ranked first for spam zombies with 17 per cent of spam zombies located in the country. Evidently the country is responsible for disseminating into cyberspace an estimated 280 million spam messages per day.<br /> <br /><strong>Small Businesses Are the Path of Least Resistance</strong><br />Targeted attacks are growing rapidly among businesses with fewer than 250 employees. Globally, small businesses are now the target of 31 per cent of all attacks, a threefold increase from 2011. Attackers hone in on small businesses that may often lack adequate security practices and infrastructure. An indicator of this trend extending to India is that small businesses received the highest number of phishing and virus-bearing emails. One in 661 emails was a phishing email for small Indian businesses and one in 248 emails carried a virus, while for larger Indian enterprises with 1,000-1,500 employees, one in 4,751 emails was a phishing email and one in 1,611 carried a virus.<br /><br /><strong>Increase in Cyber Espionage : Knowledge Workers Face Targeted Attacks</strong><br />The global average number of targeted attacks per day in 2012 was 116, compared with 82 in 2011 and 77 in 2010, recording a 42 per cent increase in targeted attacks. Targeted attacks such as Disttrack in 2012 are commonly used for the purposes of industrial espionage to gain access to the confidential information or intellectual property on a compromised computer system or network.<br /><br />Worldwide, the targets for attack in 2012 were knowledge workers who create the intellectual property that attackers want (27 per cent of all targets in 2012) and those in sales (24 per cent in 2012). The presence of a large number of knowledge workers makes India, a potential target for attackers, with IT services featuring in the top list of industries targeted for spam, phishing and viruses. In fact, India was home to 16 percent of viruses and globally, it ranked second for virus prevalence, just behind the United States. India also ranked third for overall malicious code.<br /><br /><strong>Mobile Malware Put Consumers and Businesses at Risk </strong><br />Symantec's recent mobility surveys reveal that 68 per cent1 Indians are addicted to their mobile devices and 72 per cent2 of Indian businesses faced mobility incidents due to malware infections, spam incidents, exposures of information, breach of information due to lost/stolen devices and phishing/social engineering instances. The focus on exploiting mobile devices will only grow with the increasing dependence on mobile devices for everything from simple email to critical apps and even mobile payments. In fact, Symantec predicts that 2013 will be a watershed year for mobile malware.<br /><br />Last year, mobile malware increased by 58 per cent, and 50 per cent of mobile malware created in 2012 attempted to steal information or track movements. Symantec believes that whether cybercriminals are attacking computers, mobile phones or social networks, their ultimate goal is to obtain personal information including banking details, phone numbers and email addresses of friends and business associates, and even steal the target's identity.<br /><br /> </div>
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