India is grappling with a three-and-a-half 12 months surge in cyber crime, with evaluation suggesting cities like Bengaluru and Gurgaon – facilities of India’s tech growth – are additionally hubs of evil exercise.

The report – A Deep Dive into Cybercrime Trends Impacting India from the non-profit Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF) – recognized cyber crime scorching spots, in addition to the most well-liked sorts of infosec assaults, from January 2020 till June 2023.

“The analysis of the top 10 cyber crime-prone districts in India reveals several common factors contributing to their vulnerability. These include geographical proximity to major urban centers, limited cyber security infrastructure, socioeconomic challenges, and low digital literacy,” states the report.

Several of essentially the most cyber crime-prone high geographies home tech hubs. Gurgaon and Bangalore – each considered [PDF] among the many high 5 most engaging cities for the IT business in Asia – featured for the mistaken causes.

The Gurgaon district, which is dwelling to a deliberate IT-focused metropolis of the identical identify, made quantity six on FCRF’s record. The district accounted for 8.1 % of reported cyber crime, regardless of being dwelling to lower than 0.2 % of India’s inhabitants.

FCRF cited the excessive crime fee as “likely influenced by its status as a major corporate and IT hub, making it an attractive target for cyber criminals seeking valuable data or financial gains.”

Outsourcing companies and name facilities are outstanding within the space. Globally recognised tech names together with Google, Microsoft, IBM India, Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro and extra all have presence within the metropolis.

And whereas town is thought for financial affluence – it is said to have the third highest per capita earnings in India – the Foundation instructed “disparities in digital literacy and cyber security awareness” may very well be elements more likely to drive legal exercise.

Meanwhile, Bangalore – within the district of Karnataka – was named by FCRF as an rising cyber crime hotspot. The metropolis is named the “Silicon Valley of India” due to its proliferation of IT employers – together with Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM India, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Intel, Cisco, Samsung Research Institute, Nvidia Graphics and extra.

Topping the record was Gurgaon’s neighbor Bharatpur, with 18 % of India’s general cyber crime. FCRF cites restricted employment alternatives and lack of digital literacy as causes for the area’s prevalence of crime, in addition to the very fact it accommodates main city facilities like Delhi and Jaipur.

Mathura – a district stuffed with important spiritual websites – took second place with 12 %. The FCRF cited restricted cyber safety infrastructure and the realm’s standing as a vacationer attraction amongst doubtless causes it was so fashionable with crims.

Another discovering within the report was that of all reported cyber crimes in India, virtually half (47.25 %) concerned Unified Payments Interface (UPI) fraud. Debit, bank card and sim swap fraud got here in a distant second place with 11.27 %. Overall, financially motivated crime accounted for 77.41 % of incidents. ®