Algo Rhythm: Skilled scammers pose new security challenges

Seven in 10 consumers in India were targeted by tech support scammers in the last 12 months, Microsoft’s 2021 Global Tech Support Scam Research report reveals. Organisations now face an industrialised attacker economy with skill specialisation. Many commodities that can be purchased in the dark markets are inexpensive, making attacks cheaper and easier to conduct.

• 48% of consumers surveyed in India were tricked into continuing with the scam — an eight-point increase from 2018, and three times higher than the global average (16%)
 

• 31% of those surveyed continued engaging and eventually lost money, an increase of 17 points over 2018 (14%)
 

• Millennials (aged 24-37) were the most susceptible to such scams, with 58% of those that continued with the scam incurring monetary loss
 

• 73% of males in India who proceeded to interact with a scammer were likely to lose money