WannaCry ransomware: In India, enterprises bore the brunt of the attack

Vantage point: Insights from cutting-edge research

Information technology security solutions provider Quick Heal Technologies detected over 48,000 MS-17-010 Shadow Broker exploit hits responsible for the “WannaCry ransomware” outbreak in India. Among the attempted attacks by the malicious WannaCry ransomware, 60 per cent were targeted towards enterprises and 40 per cent towards individual customers.

The top five cities impacted by the WannaCry ransomware in India are Kolkata, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Pune and Mumbai. The top five states with maximum detections are West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, NCR (Delhi) and Odisha. The company claimed to have received over 700 distressed calls on the spread of the ransomware. Many organisations and networks in over 150 countries were crippled by the WannaCry ransomware outbreak.

Asia Pacific leads the way in finance app usage, offers business growth
 

Finance downloads grew faster between 2014 and 2016 than all other app categories excluding games combined worldwide, according to the maiden Asia Pacific Retail Banking report. The report, published by global mobile app market data and insights company App Annie, analyses analyses how mobile is transforming banking and financial services in the APAC region. It covers the growth of retail banking and fintech apps and provides best practices in app deployment.

Globally, total sessions in finance apps have increased more than 100 per cent over the past two years. APAC’s growth was the strongest with over 110 billion sessions in finance apps in 2016. In APAC, from banking, payments and peer-to-peer transfers, to personal budgeting and investing, mobile apps offer unparalleled convenience for consumers and opportunities for institutions to grow.

Strategic differentiators in fight for top talent in the corporate world
 

A global study by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry highlights that talent acquisition leaders are increasingly looking to move away from the traditionally transactional nature of their business. What was once a recruiter’s market is now dominated by the demands of candidates. Talent acquisition teams play a key role in answering talent gaps, not just in terms of attracting the best candidates, but also ensuring the candidates have the ability to adapt and continue to execute business strategies, ultimately remaining with the organisation for the long term. Data is essential to recruiting for the vast majority of Indian talent acquisition leaders. While 80 per cent say time to hire is the most important metric to measure, cost per hire (46 per cent) and data monitoring retention (34 per cent) are also seen as vital.