Mobile cyberattacks on Indian firms up by 854% in 2021: Report

Indian companies witnessed a shocking rise in the number of cyberattacks on employees’ smartphones since October 2020. There has been an 845 percent rise in the number of mobile malware attacks as remote working has picked up dramatically in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per a report by cybersecurity firm Check Point, the total number of mobile attacks on Indian organisations in 2020 was 1,345 and the same reached 12,719 in March this year.

Sudden rise in cyberattacks

Last year, the researchers came upon a highly significant attack where the hacker used a large international corporation’s Mobile Device Management (MDM) system to distribute malware to more than 75 mobiles that were in its system.

Almost 97 percent of the organisations that were surveyed faced threats that used multiple ways to breach the security of the company’s cyberinfrastructure.

Of the 46 percent of the organisations that were surveyed, at least of the employees had downloaded a malicious mobile software app and at least 40 percent of all the mobiles are inherently vulnerable to a cyberattack.

“As we have seen in 2020, the mobile threat landscape has continued to expand with almost every organisation now having experienced an attack,” said Neatsun Ziv, VP Threat Prevention at Check Point Software.

These attacks are going to rise

It is expected that almost 60 percent of the workforce is going to be on smartphones by 2024 which is why the mobile security needs of an organisation need to be a top priority, the report mentioned.

Almost every organisation experienced at least one mobile malware attack in 2020.

“Ninety-three percent of these attacks originated in a device network, which attempts to trick users into installing a malicious payload via infected websites or URLs, or to steal users’ credentials,” the findings showed.
Most of the attacks against mobile devices are due to flaws in their chipset and need urgent patching.

“Threat actors have been spreading mobile malware, including Mobile Remote Access Trojans (MRATs), banking trojans, and premium dialers, often hiding the malware in apps that claim to offer Covid-19 related information,” the report said.

-with inputs from IANS.

from BGR India https://ift.tt/3tmOWiO
via IFTTT