Cyber-crime is a key concern in India

Cyber-crime is perceived to be a critical threat by Indian businesses and its biggest impact is in terms of loss of revenue, a global survey on cyber-crimes and their impact on businesses, has revealed. The survey highlights the findings on 150 Indian businesses compared to the global as a whole. It throws light on whether cyber-crimes pose a greater threat to organisations than physical crimes and brings into focus other important security aspects.

Data collected by 3,000 worldwide information security professionals, thousands of monitored devices and strategic security business partners found that cyber-crime is a critical threat for Indian businesses. It also revealed that cyber-crime’s biggest impact in India was on loss of revenue.

Organisations in action : Government organisations and BFSI are investing more in prevention of cyber-crime so as to avoid phishing, hacking, and virus attacks. Private sector banks have taken steps to go beyond firewalls and provide security using new technologies like identity management software to win the confidence of their customers.

Cyber-crime costlier

Both cyber-crime and physical crime are viewed as considerable threats by Indian and global businesses. 44 percent of Indian businesses perceive cyber-crime as a bigger threat than physical crime (31percent) to their business, while 40 percent of the global businesses feel the same.

When it comes to the cost impact, 67 percent of IT executives in India think cyber-crime proves more expensive to their organisations than physical crime (31 percent). Globally, 58 percent of businesses believe cyber-crime to be more expensive, while 42 percent feel physical crime is.

The cyber-crime threat now comes from a number of new areas. IT executives in India (91 percent) and global businesses (84 percent) believe that organised criminal groups possessing technical sophistication are replacing lone hackers. The threat from unprotected systems in developing countries is also emerging, according to 65 percent of Indian businesses (compared to 63 percent of global businesses). 78 percent of Indian businesses (compared to 66 percent of global businesses) perceive that corporate security is more at risk from inside the organisation. Over two-thirds (69 percent) of Indian businesses believe they are adequately safeguarded against organised cyber-crime (compared to 59 percent of global businesses).