82% Indian organisations witnessed email-borne attacks over the last 12 months: Report

The research found organisations in India are among the most likely to be hit by email based cyber-attacks despite improved security

 Despite improving their email security, 32% Indian organisations felt underprepared to counter email-based attacks. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

82% of Indian organisations experienced email-borne attack in the last 12 months, research from Vanson Bourne, commissioned by Barracuda found.

Affected organisations faced average potential costs of more than US$1 million for the most expensive attack with 36% of surveyed organisations saying the cost of email-based attacks rose dramatically over the last year.

Surveyed India-based organisations invested in improving their email security, with 32% having increased spending in the past 12 months, despite that, organisations felt underprepared to deal with email account takeover, followed by threat from viruses, malware, data loss, and business email compromise.

Fallout from email security attacks was also found to be significant, with reputational damage for brands and IT teams reported in 49% and 48% respectively. Business disruptions and downtime was reported by 43% of surveyed companies.

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Indian organisations were also found to have an average 54% of remote workers, which could be contributing to them suffering from more email-based security attacks, as remote working is often seen as less secure, the report shared.

Affected industries

Financial organisations were found to be particularly affected by loss of data and money. Loss of data was reported by 59% while loss of money affected 51% of the surveyed organisations.

In manufacturing, disruption of business operations affected 53% respondents, while in healthcare institutions the recovery costs involved in getting systems up and running again were the most significant.

“Email is a trusted and ubiquitous communications channel, and that makes it an attractive target for cybercriminals. We expect email-based attacks to become increasingly sophisticated, leveraging AI and advanced social engineering in their attempts to get the data or access they want and evade security measures,” said Parag Khurana, Country Manager, Barracuda Networks India.

The report is based on a survey of 1,350 participants from industries, including agriculture, biotechnology, construction, energy, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, wholesale, and others. Survey participants included organisations from the U.S., Australia, India, and Europe.