Report: India tops in mobile malware attacks; Customers of big banks are most at risk

New Delhi| India has the highest number of mobile malware attacks compared to any other country in the world. In this matter, India has left America and Canada behind. It is worrying that mobile customers of big Indian banks like HDFC, ICICI and Axis are most at risk. There has been an increase in fishing efforts to target them.

The ZScaler ThreatLabge-2024 Mobile, IoT & OT Threat Report states that India has become the biggest target of mobile malware attacks. Of all the mobile malware attacks worldwide between June, 2023 to May, 2024, the highest number of 28 per cent were carried out in India. This was followed by 27.3 per cent of attacks in the US and 15.9 per cent in Canada.

The report is based on an analysis of more than 20 billion datasets containing threat mobile transactions and cyber attacks between June, 2023 to May, 2024. Malware is software used to steal someone’s identity or break into confidential information on a mobile or computer.

The report reveals a shocking increase of 29 percent in banking malware attacks and 111 percent in mobile spyware attacks.
That said, half of mobile attacks are caused by Trojans (malware that prompts users to download and run malicious software). Therefore, the financial sector is particularly vulnerable. Spyware is a type of malware. With this, personal information of a person is stolen without his knowledge.

Sinha said, India, which was ranked third in this list last year in terms of malware attacks, has now reached the top. This underlines the vital need for Indian enterprises to adopt strong security measures. Especially amid the rapid digital transformation and increasing cyber threats. The Indian Postal Service also became the target of cyber attackers. Using SMS messages, attackers ask mobile users to visit phishing sites that prompt them to enter credit card details.

Suvabrata Sinha of CISO-India, ZScaler, said legacy systems and insecure IoT/OT (Internet of Things/Operational Technology) environments are becoming major targets of cyber criminals. By targeting these, there has been a significant increase in hacking attempts. The report said that more than 200 such apps were found on Google Play Store, which were dangerous in terms of security. At the same time, IoT malware transactions have increased by 45 per cent on an annual basis, which explains the pervasive nature of cyber threats today. The positive thing is that India has improved as a place of origin for malware. He has moved from 5th place to 7th place in the Asia-Pacific region.