Growth of broadband spurs virus attacks in India

Security experts consider the need for security solutions in India is on the rise with the growth of broadband in the country and increasing traffic in cyberspace. The number of viruses is increasing everyday. At present, there are a total of 181,000 viruses and around 150 new viruses are added everyday. Besides the PC market, virus writers are now looking at the mobile market also.

In a 2005 Websense survey, 74 percent of IT managers across India had said their employees have received phishing attacks via e-mail or instant messaging on their office PCs. 32 percent of employees surveyed admitted to have given out confidential data as a result of phishing attacks.

Said Patrik Runald, Senior Security Specialist at the F-Secure Security Response Lab, “One big problem that India would face in future is phishing. This is definitely going to increase in India as more and more people get online and more people get broadband connection and use online banking. The US phishing market is saturated now as most people have been hit by phishing scams one-two times. So they are looking at new markets and India is one such potential market for them.”