Rising at alarming rate, the number of cyber crimes in India may touch a humungous figure of 3,00,000 in 2015, almost double the level of last year causing havoc in the financial space, security establishment and social fabric, an ASSOCHAM-Mahindra SSG study warned.

As per the study findings, during 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 years, a total number of cyber crimes registered were 13,301, 22,060 71,780 and 62,189 (till May). Currently, the cyber crimes in India is nearly around 1,49,254 and may likely to cross the 3,00,000 by 2015.

Phishing attacks of online banking accounts or cloning of ATM/Debit cards are common occurrences. The increasing use of mobile, smartphones, tablets for online banking or financial transactions has also increased the vulnerabilities to a great extent. The maximum offenders came from the 18-30 age group, adds the report.

These attacks have been observed to be originating from the cyber space of a number of countries including the US, Europe, Brazil, Turkey, china, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria and the UAE, highlighted the ASSOCHAM-Mahindra SSG joint study.

Increasing smartphone sales and usage in India, the number of people falling victim to such crimes is also on the rise. The number of cyber crime victims in India (2012) was 46 million people against the global average of 560 million.

The smartphone users rarely check for security certificates and download apps (games, music and other software) from third party or unsecured sites. Mobile banking apps store data such as PIN, account number on the phone. So, there is a risk that if the phone is hacked or stolen, then the information is compromised, points out the study.

Credit and debit card fraud cases top the chart of cybercrimes. There has been a sixfold increase in such cases over the past three years.

According to the data, around 2277 complaints of online banking or credit, debit card fraud have been reported this year, followed by 191 Facebook-related complaints.

Source: Assocham
GoodReturns.in