The country witnessed cyber security threats in the form of web-based attacks that accounted for 51% of total attacks.
Chennai-based cyber solutions company, K7 Computing, underscored this on Thursday as it released its Cyber Risk Monitor report. The data for the report was compiled by K7 Labs’ telemetry data from several million users. The CRM report lists browser vulnerabilities, cyber criminals using phishing links, insecure websites and social engineering as reasons for web-based cyber attacks.
Agent apps which seed adware into unsuspecting victim’s devices are also a cause for concern. According to Samir Kanu Mody, vice-president, Threat Research, such apps have high rating. This, he said, would lead the user to believe that the app is ‘clean’ on account of its popularity.
Several variants of Hiddad adware have surfaced, which increase the trustworthiness of apps on Google Playstore. “We at K7 Labs have also discovered a spike in the number of camouflaged apps, referred to in the security industry as ‘Agent Apps’, which are responsible for seeding malware onto the victim’s device,” the report noted.
The report also pointed out that weak passwords can also compromise cyber security. On account of weak authentication, the attacker can gain administrative privileges on the server and plant ransomware.
Touching upon the company’s revenues, K. Purushothaman, CEO, K7 Computing, said its turnover in the financial year 2017-18 was ₹74 crore. The company intends to reach the ₹100-crore mark this fiscal.
