68% of Nifty 50 companies are vulnerable to cyber attacks:Study

Increasing technology usage and digitisation of the economy have escalated cyberattacks in India, and nearly 70% of Nifty 50 companies are vulnerable to hackers, reveals a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey.

According to the report, out of the 50 companies studied, 34 (or 68%) had identified vulnerabilities in at least one or more of their Internet-facing properties.

The PwC survey about transgressions in Indian cyberspace of these companies further said, 525 email addresses belonging to the 34 companies were compromised, meaning hackers had access to those email addresses.

"Cybersecurity is no more restricted to Chief Information Officers (CIOs) or Chief Security Officers (CSOs) but needs serious attention of the higher management," Sivarama Krishnan, Leader, Cyber Security - PwC India said.

Furthermore, 200 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses belonging to the 34 companies were blacklisted by various Internet Service Providers (ISPs), implying that the ISPs found these IPs to be involved in spreading malicious traffic on the Internet, sending spam emails, or acting as a botnet in large cyber attacks, the report noted.

"There is a perceptible shift in the way modern threats are carried out and the types of responses needed. Surge in cyber crimes manifests how these attackers are extensively-equipped with resources besides having a high technical skill set," he added.

Sectorwise, media & entertainment, automobiles, consumer goods and energy had the highest number of vulnerabilities.

"Hackers today are just not the tech enthusiasts but are more sophisticated and organised in their approach to probe their targets and companies need to, more than ever before, adopt sophisticated security analytical tools to prevent such crimes," Krishnan said.

According to the report, transgressions in Indian cyberspace have more than doubled over the past year to 6,284 incidents/respondent. The average number of attacks in India is catching up with the global average of 6,853 incidents/respondent.