Posted by Mumbai: Cyberattack hit over 60% of mid-sized Indian firms in 2021, revealed a new study. Sophos’ new commission study claimed that last year a cyberattack hit over 60% of mid-sized Indian organisations, leaving them as its victim.
Sophos for a new study of cybersecurity experiences in India surveyed mid-sized Indian organisations. But found that over 60% of mid-sized Indian organisations were victims of a cyberattack in 2021.
Tech Research Asia (TRA) conducted the survey for Sophos and questioned cybersecurity leaders in 500 Indian organisations with between 1,000 and 2,000 employees.
When cybersecurity leaders in Indian organisations were questioned, they said their organisations were hit by a cyberattack but failed to immediately realize it.
Interestingly, a good number of respondents were late to realise that they were a cyberattack hit. 19% of respondents surveyed said they discovered the attack within two weeks, but 22% took three to four weeks to realise they’d been targeted.
Not only were they late to realise, but the study also found that many only had learned about the cyberattack from an external source.
While 50% said they’d discovered the cyberattack when they were unable to access data or systems (21% overall) or were contacted by the attackers (19%), a significant 40% only realized they’d been targeted when they found their company data exposed online (17%) or were notified by customers (12%) or the media (11%).
Almost a quarter (23%) of victim organisations in the survey said it took more than a month for the organisation to recover from the impact of the attack.
“Sophos’ survey shows that organisations in India are at significant risk of a cyberattack, including ransomware, which can have a far-reaching impact on customers, reputation and operations,” said Sunil Sharma, MD – Sales, Sophos India and SAARC.
“In addition, many organisations may be under-prepared to detect and respond to an attack. According to the survey, attackers can remain in victim networks for weeks before being detected, and a considerable number of organisations learned of the attack from external sources after the damage was done,” added Sharma.