India among highest risk group for online attack

Figures with 30 other countries including, UK, Australia, US and Canada, says Kaspersky Lab

India has joined the ranks of highest risk group for online attacks in 2012, according to Kaspersky Lab.

India figures with 30 other countries including UK, Australia, United States, India, Indonesia and Canada which run the highest risk between 41-60 per cent of users attacked in 2012.

"Notable members of the Top 20 list are Bangladesh, Sudan and India: these countries are rated with the highest threat level for both online and local attacks and represent the countries with the most dangerous digital environment in the world," said Kaspersky Lab in a statement.

The highest level of online attacks however, was registered in Russia in 2012.

Another 110 countries which figure in the medium risk group (21-40 per cent), including France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Brazil and Egypt. Only 10 countries were deemed to have safer online environments (less than 20 per cent of users attacked in 2012), most of them with significantly low online penetration.

For example, Democratic Republic of Congo (16.7% of user attacked online in 2012, which is the lowest share worldwide) had only 1.2 per cent of population connected to the Internet in 2011, according to the data from International Telecommunications Union.

Countries with high internet penetration, but comparably low intensity of web attacks include Japan (22.8%) and Denmark (21.6%).

"The most important outcome of our regular analysis of the threat level is that there is no safe place on Earth for computer users. Even in the safest countries every fifth user was attacked at least once by a local or online threat. It means that users and businesses in any country have to understand that there is a need for the proper protection against modern threats," said Costin Raiu, Director of Global Research & Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab said absence of internet connectivity does not mean a lower threat level though. The leaders in terms of local malware attacks are Bangladesh (with an astounding 99.7% share of users attacked), Sudan, Malawi, and Tanzania.

While the number of users attacked online grows every year, there is a slow declining trend for local threats. The number of countries with the lowest risk of a local infection grew from 14 in 2011 to 38. These changes are mostly due to cybercriminals less frequently using classic methods of attacks via traditional malware and infected storage.