pandemic. It’s not like cybercrimes didn’t exist before the pandemic, but cybercrime statistics have increased exponentially in the global pandemic years. Other crimes such as murder, theft and robbery witnessed a drop because of the national lockdowns. Cyber-attacks were rated the fifth top crime in 2020. The cybercrime industry has continued to grow even in 2021. The year 2020 has brought many changes to the business industry. The pandemic years have amplified cybercrime because of remote work and WFH. Cybercrimes like data theft, embezzlement, data hacking and destruction have gone up 600% since the global pandemic. Nearly every industry has adapted to online platforms in the pandemic, making cybercrimes exciting & lucrative as well. Let’s talk about the national cybercrimes in 2020: Karnataka emerged as the state with the highest number of cybercrimes in 2020, constituting over a fifth of the total 50,035 crimes reported. After Karnataka, it was Maharashtra with the 2nd highest number of cases. In addition, states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Assam, Bihar, and Odisha witnessed hikes in the number of cybercrimes in 2020. The numbers only show the cybercrimes reported and not the ones that weren’t reported. This is because most people don’t report cybercrimes. After all, they don’t want the hassle of reporting or they fear police or fear of losing data & prefer to pay ransom. But people must report such cybercrimes and try to get the attackers behind bars. Many companies don’t report such crimes since they fear disclosing their data to the police or other government agencies. Most victims of cybercrimes are the banks, healthcare institutions, corporations, and the older generation companies. A glance at national cybercrimes in 2021: Uttar Pradesh has topped the list under section 66 of the IT Act, including ransomware. Not just cybercrimes, but UP reported the most cases for forgery and violation of privacy in 2021. The highest number of credit card and debit card frauds was reported in Bihar. Other states like Telangana and Karnataka reported the maximum number of online banking frauds, OTP frauds, cyber blackmailing or threatening on social media. Karnataka reported the maximum number of cybercrimes against women, and Maharashtra reported the same for children. Since the world has shifted to online platforms, there is connectivity between different nations just with a click. As a result, it has become easier for hackers worldwide to attack people in different countries. Thus, it becomes much more difficult for the cybercrime police to locate the culprit and do justice. The number of cybercrimes will only increase in the upcoming years. Like there has been a significant increase from the years 2010 to 2020. As technology and the internet are taking over the world, so are cybercrimes. Crimes would never die, even if the criminals do. Cybercrimes continue to grow; hence people need to know the preventive measures they can take and not become victims of such cybercrimes. Some preventive measures: One of the best ways to secure yourself is by deploying latest cyber security protection technology. Next get your company or as individual to have professional data breach insurance done. We suggest this because it’s not just safe, but insurance has proven to be the safest option with the increase in the number of hackers and their ways of hacking. Every state has different policies and factors, so make sure you read what all is covered, penalties and claims. You could always lower the risk of cybercrime attacks by:
- Consulting a cyber security partner to have an audit done to get your current security posture
- Implement the latest technology as per the audit report to protect against such cyber attacks
- If moving to cloud , do not depend on cloud service providers for security of your data but implement third party specialised cyber security protection
- In WFH scenarios make sure the end user devices are protected with latest end point protection software ( earlier called antivirus )
- Connectivity from WFH devices to applications servers to be always encrypted
- Conduct security awareness workshops for your employees
- If you are an individual, have good end point protection software. Don’t visit untrusted sites and don’t fall for cheap & too good to be true offers.
- Regularly update passwords and use a complex password
- Download software only from secured sites
- Regularly update the software on your devices
- Last but not least, build a data breach strategy.
