India ranked second in attacks by threat actors in 2024, shows data

Threat actors traded over 534 terabytes (TB) of data across industries and countries globally in 2024. India ranked second after the US, recording 95 incidents that impacted as many companies, according to the cyber intelligence platform CloudSEK.

 

A threat actor can be a person/organisation that targets firms or governments to damage security, extract data, and affect a firm’s resources. Motivations may include financial gains arising from data leakage and sale, and espionage, among others.

 

Globally, manufacturing, construction and real estate, healthcare, tech and telecom, and financial services were the top affected sectors. On the dark web, threat actors have been most active on underground cyber forums such as BreachForums, Leakbase, and XSS.  

  The retail industry is likely the most targeted as it processes large volumes of customer data, including payment card information, and personal details.

 

In India, the crypto exchange platform WazirX suffered a security breach leading to the loss of over $230 million in assets last July. 

 

In November, HDFC Life reported a data leak, following which it initiated a detailed probe in consultation with information security experts.