Bhubaneshwar, Surat most vulnerable to cyber attacks

Symantec announced the India findings of its Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 17, which reveals that smaller and emerging cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Surat, Cochin, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam and Indore are increasingly facing the risk of cyber attacks, with 25% of bot- infections in India reported in such cities. The report also shows that advanced targeted attacks are spreading beyond the more commonly assumed target of large organizations with 50% targeting small and medium organizations in 2011. In addition, the report highlights that while the number of vulnerabilities decreased by 20%, the number of malicious attacks continued to skyrocket by 81%.

"Augmented by broadband penetration, smaller and emerging cities of India are exploring opportunities offered by the virtual world, in turn creating a new lucrative pool of targets for cyber criminals to exploit," Shantanu Ghosh, VP and MD, India Product Operations, Symantec. He added, "Lack of awareness and low adoption of security measures makes these cities susceptible to cyber threats and warrants greater vigilance in protecting information assets."

Smaller, emerging cities face the risk of Cyber Attacks
Small and emerging cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Surat, Cochin, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam and Indore have a high proportion of SMBs and industry clusters. Symantec has observed a sizeable 25% of bot-infected computers in these cities, indicating that these locations are being inducted as part of a network of compromised computers.

Targeted attacks on organizations of all sizes
Targeted attacks are growing, with the number of daily targeted attacks increasing from 77 per day to 82 per day by the end of 2011. Targeted attacks use social engineering and customized malware to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information; and are no longer limited to large organizations. More than 50 % of such attacks target organizations with fewer than 2,500 employees, and almost 18 % target companies with fewer than 250 employees.

Malicious attacks continue to grow rapidly
Symantec blocked more than 5.5 bn malicious attacks in 2011, an increase of 81% over the previous year. In addition, the number of unique malware variants increased to 403 mn and the number of Web attacks blocked per day increased by 36%. At the same time, spam levels fell considerably and new vulnerabilities discovered decreased by 20%.

Rise of data breaches, lost devices concern for the future
Approximately 1.1 mn identities were stolen per data breach on average in 2011, a dramatic increase over the amount seen in any other year. Hacking incidents posed the greatest threat, exposing 187 mn identities in 2011-the greatest number for any type of breach last year. However, the most frequent cause of data breaches that could facilitate identity theft was theft or loss of a computer or other medium on which data is stored or transmitted, such as a smartphone, USB key or a backup device. These theft-or loss-related breaches exposed 18.5 mn identities.

Mobile threats expose businesses and consumers
Mobile vulnerabilities increased by 93 % in 2011. At the same time, there was a rise in threats targeting the Android operating system. With the number of vulnerabilities in the mobile space rising and malware authors not only reinventing existing malware for mobile devices, but creating mobile-specific malware geared to the unique mobile opportunities, 2011 was the first year that mobile malware presented a tangible threat to businesses and consumers. These threats are designed for activities including data collection, the sending of content, and user tracking.