India Inc Not Ready to Tackle High-Level Cyber Security Attacks

A new report says most companies are lagging behind in their preparations for a cyber breach.

Indian companies need to beef up their security measures against possible cyber attacks. (Photo: iStock)

2016 was the year India woke up to cyber crime with a rude shock. This was the year when over 3 billion debit cards were breached. And the Twitter accounts of public figures like Rahul Gandhi and Vijay Mallya were hacked with apparent ease.

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But there’s only so much an individual consumer can do, unless the companies behind such services don’t improve on their back-end systems. And sadly, according to a latest report, there’s a long way to go before India Inc gets its act together vis a vis cyber security threats.

The E&Y Report 2017 says most organisations are lagging behind in their preparations for a cyber breach.

They are still in the process of knowing how to predict the next threat, and what are the “hottest” technologies to prevent such attacks. 

E&Y Report 2017

“After demonetisation, there has been a surge in cyber crimes related to One Time Password (OTP) frauds and reports of malicious mobile apps,” the report says.

(Photo: The Quint)

(Photo: The Quint)

Long way to go

All this goes to show that companies in India are not fully prepared to bear the brunt of cyber attacks. This leaves them vulnerable to hackers, who can hold them to ransom, while also leaving data of millions of consumers in jeopardy.

However, it’s good to see that post demonetisation, cyber awareness is on the rise, and spending towards it should surely increase in the coming 10 months or so. 2017 is pegged to be a big year for cyber security in India, and this report shows the serious level of work that needs to be done to get in cyber shape.