India becoming target of increased cybersecurity attack, says report by Palo Alto Networks

India faces substantial risk of cyberattacks targeting its critical infrastructure, public sector, and essential services, a report by Palo Alto Networks revealed. As per the report, 67 per cent of Indian government and essential service entities reported encountering a surge of over 50 per cent in disruptive attacks. 

Anil Valluri, Managing Director and VP India at Palo Alto Networks said, “Our findings show that the transport, manufacturing, and public sectors have borne the brunt of advanced attacks. As India embraces digital transformation, it is mission critical to have a cybersecurity-first approach.”

Manufacturing, logistics and BFSI sector face cyberattacks

As per the report, 66 per cent of Indian manufacturing firms faced increased risks from unsecured IoT devices connected to the network, far more than other sectors.  50 per cent of the manufacturing organizations believe 5G adoption will widen security loopholes, the report revealed.

Transport and logistics organisations were also impacted by cyberattacks. 83 per cent of  organisations in the sector perceived their risk level as high or very high.

Apart from manufacturing and logistics, banking and financial sectors are also on the radar of cyberattacks.  34 per cent of Indian banking and financial services say cloud attacks will disrupt business. 

Cyberattacks increasing due to advancements in technology

The advancement of technologies is also aiding cyberattacks, the report said. 69 per cent of Indian Telcos have faced newfound risks from increased reliance on cloud-based services and apps. Also, 57 per cent of Indian Telcos are concerned about increased ransomware. 

Due to the increased cyberattacks, Indian organizations have also started tweaking their budgets to spend on cybersecurity, the report said. 94 per cent of Indian organizations perform regular assessments and forensics for OT related cybersecurity incidents. Moreover, 89 per cent of these organizations have IT and OT cybersecurity professionals working under the same/ combined team, higher than the SEA average of 82 per cent.

India Inc tweaks budgets to fight cyberattacks

Valluri noted that strategic investments and initiatives are needed to prevent cybersecurity attacks in India.
He said, “While budgets may be expanding, it is essential to utilize these resources diligently. Enterprises, regardless of their size, must proactively adopt a Zero Trust architecture to secure distributed enterprise networks. Automating the SOC is also essential for improving efficiency, enabling faster detection and response to cyber threats, and allowing analysts to focus on strategic initiatives.”

“The convergence of IT and OT has made lateral threat movement easier than ever and defending against it requires robust security automation and orchestration,” he added.