Microsoft has warned of “active attacks” against server software used by businesses and government agencies to share internal documents. Users were instructed by the IT giant to install the recommended security fixes right away.
FBI, Microsoft Confirm Coordinated Attacks
Although it could not provide any additional details, the FBI acknowledged on 20 July that it was aware of the attacks and was working with partners in the federal and private sectors. In an alert sent out on 19 July, Microsoft made it clear that the vulnerabilities only affect internal SharePoint servers that are hosted on-site by businesses.
The business affirmed that the attacks had no effect on SharePoint Online, the cloud-based version that is part of Microsoft 365. The Washington Post, which broke the story first, claims that unidentified hackers recently exploited a software vulnerability to launch an attack against US and international organisations and businesses.
Zero-Day Vulnerability Puts Thousands of Servers at Risk
According to experts the newspaper cited, the incident was a “zero-day” attack, meaning it took advantage of a weakness that had not been discovered before. Tens of thousands of servers could be at risk from the attack.
The company described the vulnerability in the alert as one that “allows an authorised attacker to perform spoofing over a network.” Microsoft also provided advice on how to stop the vulnerability from being exploited further.
Spoofing Risks: What It Means for Governments and Enterprises
A nefarious actor can use a spoofing attack to hide their identity and pose as a reliable person, group, or website in order to trick government organisations or financial markets. Microsoft recommended users install the security fix for the SharePoint Subscription Edition as soon as possible after announcing its release on July 20.
Additionally, the business mentioned that it is now working on security patches for SharePoint versions 2016 and 2019. Microsoft encouraged users who are unable to activate the suggested malware protection to take their servers offline in order to reduce their exposure to threats until those fixes are available.
Layoffs at Microsoft: 9,000 Employees Affected in Latest Round
According to various media reports, Microsoft is laying off 4% of its employees worldwide. The tech giant said on July 2, that it was letting go of almost 9,000 workers from several departments.
Professionals of all experience levels are apparently preparing for the impact of these layoffs, which are occurring across countries. This time, Microsoft disclosed the development on the second day of the month, even though it typically announces structural changes at the end of the new fiscal year.
Microsoft stated that it will keep implementing organisational changes that are required to best position the firm and teams for success in a dynamic environment, according to a media report that quoted a Microsoft spokesperson.
The software powerhouse has been making layoff announcements one after the other this year; in January, it said it intended to fire 1% of its employees depending on their performance.
The founder of the Indian grocery delivery startup KiranaPro told a media outlet that the company had been hacked and all of its data had been erased.
Deepak Ravindran, co-founder and CEO of KiranaPro, told a media source that among the deleted data were the company’s app code and its servers that included banks of private client data, such as names, mailing addresses, and payment information.
Established in December 2024, KiranaPro functions as a buyer app on the Open Network for Digital Commerce of the Indian government, enabling users to buy goods from neighbouring supermarkets and local stores.
According to the company, KiranaPro has 55,000 consumers, with 30,000–35,000 active purchasers spread throughout 50 cities, placing 2,000 orders per day.
In contrast to other grocery delivery apps, KiranaPro has a voice-based interface that lets users utilise voice commands in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and English to place orders from nearby stores.
KiranaPro was Planning to Expand to 100 Cities in 100 Days
According to Ravindran, the business had intended to reach 100 cities in the 100 days prior to the tragedy. Executives at KiranaPro learnt of the incident on May 26 while accessing their Amazon Web Services account.
Ravindran told the media that hackers were able to access KiranaPro’s root accounts on GitHub and AWS.
A file with a sample of activity logs from around the time of the event and a few screenshots of the GitHub security logs were supplied by Ravindran, indicating that the hack occurred after someone obtained access to their systems using a former employee’s account.
According to Saurav Kumar, chief technology officer at KiranaPro, the attack occurred between May 24 and 25.
KiranaPro Used Google Authenticator
The business claimed to have implemented multi-factor authentication on its AWS account using Google Authenticator.
When they attempted to enter their AWS account last week, Kumar said, the multi-factor code had changed, and all of their Electric Compute Cloud (EC2) services—which provided clients with virtual computers to run their apps—were erased.
He pointed out that the KiranaPro team can only access the system by using their IAM [Identity and Access Management] account, which allows them to see that the EC2 instances are no longer there.
However, because they lack the root account, they are unable to obtain any logs or other information. According to Ravindran, KiranaPro has contacted GitHub’s support staff to assist in locating the hacker’s IP addresses and any evidence of the incident.
Ravindran added that the business is bringing legal action against its former workers, claiming that they failed to provide their login information so that they could access their GitHub accounts and view their logs.
The manner of the attack remains unknown. Credential theft, including the installation of malware that steals passwords on an employee’s laptop and the absence or non-enforcement of multi-factor authentication, was the source of some of the largest assaults in recent years, including LastPass, Change Healthcare, and Snowflake.
Cybersecurity professionals and security agencies are keeping a close eye on Indian cyberspace to look for any infiltration from malicious actors in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist assault, which has increased geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan.
Cybersecurity professionals and authorities are actively scanning cyberspace to identify any new cyberattacks, especially those that might be funded by threat actors connected to Pakistan, government officials told a news outlet.
According to the report, the surveillance will seek to promptly detect and lessen any potential threats from cybercriminals in the future. This comes after a person on the social media site X going by the handle “Pakistan Cyber Force” claimed to have obtained private data from the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) and the Indian Military Engineering Service.
Bigger Threat to India’s Security
According to the Pakistani account, 10 GB of 1,600 defence personnel’s personal information, including login credentials, was hacked. The names, addresses, cellphone numbers, departments, designations, and “MES No.” of the defence personnel were listed in an image that was attached to the message. Additionally, the group vandalised the website of the Defence Ministry’s PSU, Armoured Vehicle Nigam Limited (AVNL).
“Your armoured factory is now owned by Pakistan, courtesy of Pakistan Cyber Force,” the group said, posting images of the AVNL website where the image of an Indian tank has purportedly been replaced by a Pakistani “Al Khalid” tank and Pakistani flag.
According to reports, the government responded by taking down the AVNL website so that an audit could determine whether there was any harm. The website of Armoured Vehicle Nigam Ltd has been pulled offline for a comprehensive and intentional audit as a preventive step, officials told the news agency, to determine the degree of any potential damage caused by the defacement effort and to protect the website’s integrity.
They went on to say that “appropriate and necessary measures” are being taken to fortify digital defences, reinforce the security infrastructure, and prevent additional infiltration attempts.
No Official Confirmation for the Government
According to a media house, senior IDSA management staff “categorically denied” that the agency’s website had been compromised, even though the government has not publicly acknowledged the events.
However, the cyberattack might have exposed private data connected to Indian army officials. This comes almost two weeks after a horrific terror incident in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22.
Cyberattacks against Indian entrepreneurs and organisations are increasing, in addition to geopolitical concerns. According to a survey by security firm CloudSEK, 95 companies experienced data theft in 2024, making India the second most targeted country in the world for cyberattacks.
The digital world has made our life easier and faster. Nowadays, anything is possible with just a click or a touch. It wouldn’t be wrong to say, that our life revolves around the internet. Every business, organisations, and companies are on the internet. However, with the increase in the use of the internet in the world, we have seen a drastic increase in cybercrime as well. Many organisations and faced cyber-attacks on them.
Firstly we need to understand what a cyber-attack is. A cyber-attack can be defined as a malicious activity or planned attempt by any organization or an individual to steal or corrupt the information of the system of another organization or individual. Cybercriminals or hackers generally use various methods to attack the system; some of them are malware, ransomware, phishing, denial of service, and other methods. In this article, we will talk everything about India being the third most cyber-attacked nation and what steps the Government has taken. So, let’s take a look at them.
Cyber attacks are done in many forms by criminals and hackers and some of them are defined below:
Malware
Malware can be known as malicious software, which includes spyware, viruses, worms, and ransomware. Malware violates laws and launches a network through a vulnerability, generally happens when a person clicks on a minacious link or email attachment that then installs the risky software into your system without your permission. Once this software attacks your system, the malicious software can manage to do things such as install some more malicious and additional harmful software, can obtain and spy on all the information present on the hard disk, can disrupt some components of the system, and can block your access to manage some important components of a computer network.
Phishing
It is a cyber-crime in which a target receives an Email, telephonic call, or a text SMS by someone who pretends to be a lawful organization or institute to lure the targets into providing essential data and sensitive information such as banking details, credit cards, and debit card details, personal information, and various account passwords. Then these details are used by the attacker to access the information-which can further result in financial loss, cyberbullying, cyber blackmailing, and identity theft.
Man-In-The-Middle Attack
This cyber-attack is also known as eavesdropping, takes place when attackers insert themselves in between transactions of two-party. Once the attacker interrupts the traffic, they can rectify and steal information. On less secure public Wi-Fi, attackers can indulge themselves between a visitor device and the network through the same Wi-Fi connection. Without having an idea, the user passes all information through the attacker- after the malware reaches inside the device, the attacker can install malicious software to steal all of the victim’s data.
Denial-Of-Service Attack
DoS is a cyber-attack that is meant to shut down a server, network, and machine by making them inaccessible to the right users. DoS floods the target with traffic, or it just sends irrelevant information that triggers a crash of the server or network. Sometimes attackers can also use multiple compromised devices to attack. This is known as Denial-of-service (DoS).
SQL Injection
Structured Query Language Injection is a cyber-attack that takes place when the attackers insert the malicious coding inside the server that takes over the SQL and forces the system server to disclose the crucial information and data. SQL Injection destroys the database, and the attacker can modify or delete the data stored in the database, causing persistent changes to the application behavior or content.
DNS Tunneling
It is the most damaging DNS attack. Domain Name Systems turns into a hacking weapon. DNS tunneling is a cyber-attack where the hacker or attacker encodes the information of other protocols or programs in DNS queries and responses. DNS tunnelling generally holds data payloads-which can be added to an attacked DNS server and is used to control applications and remote servers.
Reasons Behind Cyber Attacks
There are several reasons why these cyber attacks take place and they are:
To gain business financial details.
To gain customer financial information (for example- Bank details).
To gain product design or trade secrets.
To gain login credentials and email addresses of various customers or staff.
Cyber-warfare: It is a war caused by the Internet to leak information.
Biggest Cyber Attacks in India
SIM Swap Scam
In Mumbai, two hackers were arrested for transferring almost 4 crore rupees from various bank accounts in August 2018. They illegally transferred money from the bank accounts of numerous individuals just by gaining SIM card information. Both the hackers blocked individual SIM cards, and with the support of fake documentation, they pulled out transactions with the help of online banking. Various company accounts were also on the target.
Hacking of Indian Healthcare Websites
In 2019, Health Care websites became the target of cyber-attack. As confirmed by US-based cybersecurity firms, hackers broke in and invaded a leading India-based healthcare website. The hackers were able to steal the information of about 68 lakh patients as well as doctors.
Hacking of UIDAI Aadhaar Software
In 2018, around 1.1 billion Aadhaar cardholders’ personal information was breached. According to data by UIDAI, more than 210 websites leaked the essential Aadhar details online. Data leaked included Aadhaar, mobile numbers, PAN, bank account numbers, IFSC codes, and mostly all the personal data of all individual Aadhaar cardholders. If it was not quite shocking, some anonymous hacker was selling the Aadhaar information of individuals for 500 rupees through WhatsApp.
ATM System Hacked
In 2018, cyber attackers targeted the ATM servers of Canara Bank. Almost around 20 lakh rupees were stolen from various accounts of Canara Bank account holders. There were around 50 targets estimated according to information provided by the source. The cyber attackers were able to steal the ATM details of around more than 300 account holders. Hackers were using skimmed devices to wipe out the information from debit cardholders. The transactions made by hackers from various accounts amounted from 10,000 rupees to a maximum amount of 40,000 rupees.
Cosmos Bank Cyber Attack in Pune
Attacked by hackers in the year 2018. The cyber-attackers pulled off almost 94.42 crore rupees from Cosmos Cooperative Bank, which shook the entire banking sector of India. Hackers were able to steal huge amounts by hacking the ATM server of the Bank and gathering the information of debit cardholders and visa details. Hackers from around 28 countries immediately withdrew all the money as soon as they were informed.
Global Weekly Cyber Attacks per Organisation
Steps Taken by Indian Government
To counter these attacks, the Government of India has taken a few steps to secure companies and organisation from being victim.
Personal Data Protection Bill
The bill implies the processing and storage of any critical data related to individuals living only in India. It majorly states that the sensitive and essential personal information of the individual should be stored locally; however, it can only be processed abroad under some terms and conditions. The bill also focuses on making social media companies more accountable and urging them to solve issues related to the spread of irrelevant and offensive content on the internet.
Website Audit
Surrounded by the rising number of government website hacking, data theft, email phishing, and privacy breach cases in India, the Indian government has taken initiatives to conduct an audit on all of the websites and applications of the government. Under this initiative by the Indian government, around 90 security auditing organizations have been enlisted by the government for auditing the best practices of information security of the Indian government data.
CERT-In
The advancing Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which is responsible for operating the national agency for handling cybersecurity, has helped in decreasing the rate of cyber-attacks on government networks and servers in India. The implementation of cybersecurity awareness and anti-phishing training across Indian government organizations and agencies has assisted employees working in technological department of government sectors in fighting cybercrimes. Apart from spreading awareness of the hazard caused by phishing attacks to the public, CERT-In has issued advisories and alerts regarding the latest cyber countermeasures and vulnerabilities to counter and tackle them.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat
India aims to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in coordination with the government’s vision for making Digital India. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has come up with the Cyber Surakshit Bharat movement. This program is in association with the National e-Governance Division of India. Indian governance system has transformed digitalization rapidly; therefore, the requirement of good governance is important. With such an initiative by the government, there would be an increase in awareness against cybercrime and building the capacity for securing the CISOs and the frontline IT staff across all government organizations in India. Apart from just awareness, the first public-private partnership also includes a series of some workshops to make government employees fight against cybercrimes and help professionals with cyber security health tool kits to take down cyber threats.
Conclusion
Cyber-attacks have now become a weapon to launch attacks on different organisations. Mainly they are done to attain secrets of organisations or Governments. Unfortunately, because of this India has become prone to cyber-attack and in 2020, it recorded 1.16 million breaches alone. Some steps have been taken to counter these attacks, however more and more strong cyber security is needed.
FAQs
Which countries get cyber attacked the most?
Top 3 countries that cyber attacked the most are:
Japan
Australia
India
What do you mean by Cyber Attacks?
A cyber-attack can be defined as a malicious activity or planned attempt by any organization or an individual to steal or corrupt the information of the system of another organization or individual.
Which country is the best for cybersecurity?
Sweden has suffered the lowest rate of malware infection. It is considered as one of the best country with cybersecurity.
Startups and small businesses are at serious risk of cybercrime. Ransomware, IoT attacks, DDoS attack and deepfakes are threats to growing companies who lack the professional protection that larger firms may enjoy.
It’s crucial that startups and small businesses invest in IT security to provide the protection they need to power productivity. If you’re struggling to identify where to start, here are 10 ways to set up cybersecurity for startups.
Almost half (46%) of all UK businesses were the victims of cyber-attacks, the Government found in a 2020 survey. Across the world, 53% of small businesses are targeted by hackers and online criminals, says Cisco – and the threat level is increasing.
Of those businesses attacked, 33% experienced a cyber breach once a week in 2020, costing almost £1,000 each time to fix the problem. As well as incurring expenses, companies can suffer from data losses and damage to reputation that can be more difficult to claw back.
While startups may not have established a profile, missing protection makes them easy targets for online criminals. A lack of investment in infrastructure, personal safety, and a robust IT security culture means that startups can be easy pickings for online predators.
The National Cyber Security Centre has created a set of simple guidelines for startups, but these are far too basic for most businesses.
At Syntax, we work with businesses of all sizes to safeguard their IT systems and provide IT security solutions that deliver the highest levels of protection.
Invest in Antivirus protection
While the Government may have recorded a fall in viruses or other malware (from 33% to 16%), strong antivirus software should still be the first investment you make.
Online threats have increased by almost 30% during the Coronavirus pandemic, as digital criminals attempt to take advantage of lapses in online defenses.
Antivirus software acts as a first line in protection, alerting you to threats and safeguarding your systems from identified risks. While it may be tempting to use free antivirus software, avoid it. Investing in a professional antivirus package is the only way to enjoy total peace of mind and protection.
Installing your antivirus software is just the start; you’ll also need to ensure that everyone in your organisation installs updates as soon as they’re released as new threats emerge every day.
Think you’re protected using a Mac? Macworld provides a list of all threats, and it’s growing every day. Whatever platform you use, invest in anti-virus software.
Commit 100% to the cloud
Storing documents and data in the cloud isn’t just convenient; it can be much safer too. As a business owner, you maintain control and oversight of all information. You’ll have an audit trail, too, enabling you to see who is accessing what data and when. It’s easy to generate audit logs in Microsoft 365, providing total transparency.
By using cloud services, you can hopefully avoid dangerous practices, such as saving to a local computer, emailing files through a web-based provider, or using external storage devices such as USB sticks.
An incredible 85% of all data breaches were caused by human error, including poor password protection, Verizon found in its 2021 survey. The problem is your people. A Google survey found that 65% of people used the same passwords for multiple accounts. This gives hackers and online criminals easy access to your systems.
Staff must understand the risks of poor password etiquette, including reusing the same password multiple times. Other simple but common issues include writing passwords down or sharing them with other employees.
Create Professional policies
The Federation of Small Business recommends you create a password policy to ensure staff choose (and don’t reuse) passwords, and we agree. But you should go further. Every startup and small business should develop professional policies to safeguard IT systems.
A strong policy will spell out precisely what you expect of each staff member, including what they shouldn’t access, how to manage data, keep passwords secret and more. An IT policy will also ensure that your organisation adheres to legislation, including GDPR and UK data protection rules.
Restrict Network access
Cloud platforms enable you to set tiered access levels, allowing only those who need the information to access it. This may mean that only your accounts team, for example, can access information on invoices and outgoings.
It’s critical as insider threats – where someone within your organisation intentionally accesses information they should – are on the rise. Research in 2020 found that 60% of all data breaches are caused by insider threats. Don’t give anyone – outside or inside your organisation – a chance.
Safely store sensitive data
Data is likely to be an organisation’s greatest asset and its most significant risk. Protecting data isn’t just a legal duty; an information breach can lead to long-lasting damage to your reputation too.
Cloud storage systems provide extra safety for your data. For example, you can set tiered access, provide password protection and see who has accessed data and when. Secure cloud storage systems are also external to your business and regularly backed up, removing one stress point from your IT security.
Establish a culture of security
We’ve identified that your people are often the weakest link in your IT security, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Establishing a positive security culture ensures that all staff – from the boardroom to the backroom – take IT security seriously.
Each member of staff should understand their role in keeping your startup safe. Installing updates, protecting passwords and identifying potential threats are just some of the ways you can create a culture of IT security.
It’s also critical that staff have the confidence to immediately raise an alert if something goes wrong (and unfortunately, it will).
Have a Recovery backup plan
It’s highly likely that you’ll experience an IT security threat, so we recommend that every startup has a robust disaster recovery plan. Each plan should include details of how you’ll manage your hardware, software and essential systems in a crisis.
The priority here is to ensure the safety of crucial data and to restore systems as soon as possible so you can continue to work.
Using cloud-based systems and software can reduce your time offline, restoring productivity – and profitability – as quickly as possible.
Smaller businesses invest proportionally smaller amounts in IT security than larger firms, stats show. This increases their risk of damaging data breaches and online threats.
Every startup should ensure that IT security is a priority and invest in it. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here; the amount you spend depends on your organisation, systems, and the security risks you face.
Our advice is to regularly review IT security spending and avoid the temptation to cut costs or corners.
Work with a IT partner
Managing IT security is a full-time job, but too many startups struggle to balance priorities, compromising their protection. Working with an experienced partner can prove to be a cost-effective way to manage your IT systems.
Outsourcing support can be cheaper and more effective than in-sourcing the task to an already over-stretched IT team. Experienced providers can deliver 24/7 support and guidance, as well as protecting you from new and emerging threats.
FAQ
Do startups need cybersecurity?
Yes, If you’re a small business or a startup you are vulnerable to hackers and so you should step up your cybersecurity to Keep your startup safe from hackers, data loss and breaches.
What are the 3 major types of cybersecurity?
Cloud Security, Network Security, and Application Security are the 3 major types of cyber security.
Why do small businesses need cybersecurity?
Small businesses should invest in cybersecurity to protect their own business, their customers, and their data from growing cybersecurity threats.
There has been a lot of recent incidents related to data breaches from different companies which include the top companies in and around the country. The most recent data breach was reported by the well-known airline of India, Air India. Let’s look at the information about the data breach faced by the airline.
Air India has conveyed that the data of millions of passengers have been compromised due to a cyber attack and it involves the personal data of the passengers registered between 26 August 2011 and 20 February 2021.
The airline has announced that the data breach had taken place due to a breach from the SITA passenger service system and the data breach involved the information of around 45 lakh passengers.
What is SITA?
SITA is a technology based company which is located in Switzerland. The company specializes in information technology and air transport communications. The country that was started with a 11-member airline now has a customer base of 2,500 customers in more than 200 countries across the globe.
Some of the services offered by the company include reservation systems, passenger processing, etc. In the year 2017 Air India had entered into a deal with SITA to enable the airlines to join Star Alliance by updating its IT infrastructure.
In the month of March, Air India had communicated that SITA had been under a cyberattack in the last week of February which led to the leakage of personal information of its passengers.
The company in a statement had mentioned that the data of around 45 lakh passengers have been compromised due to the cyber attack from across the world. The personal data that were registered in between 26 August 2011 and 20 February 2011 have been compromised.
The company has conveyed that the data that were breached during the cyber attack included the name, date of birth, contact details, passport information, ticket information, frequent flyer data and even the credit card information.
Steps taken by Air India after the Data Breach
The airlines have conveyed that it would launch an investigation into the incident. Other than this they have conveyed that, they have taken steps to secure the compromised servers, engaging certain external specialists of data security incidents, resetting passwords of its frequent flyer programme and contacting the credit card customers.
This data breach would affect you as an individual only if you have used to airline services in between the mentioned dates. The important point is that the credit card information has also been compromised and it can be a threat to your credit card.
However, Air India has assured its passengers that they were no evidence of any misuse of the compromised data, the airline has asked everyone to change the passwords of their confidential data which includes your credit card password and frequent flyer programme.
FAQ
What data got leaked in the Air India data breach?
The personal data of around 45 lakh passengers were leaked, which includes name, date of birth, contact details, passport information, ticket information, frequent flyer data and even the credit card information.
How did Air India faced a data breach?
Air India announced that the data breach had taken place due to a breach from the SITA passenger service system.
Who took over Air India?
Tata Sons Ltd were the frontrunner in acquiring Air India.
Conclusion
Cyberattacks have been reported frequently by different companies and are posing a serious threat towards the privacy of individuals. The rise in digitalization across the globe has led to an increase in the cyber crimes and cyber attacks by the criminals.
Upstox is the leading discount broker in the country. Upstox was formerly known as RKSV technologies. Upstox is backed by some of the top investors in the country which include Tiger Global and Ratan Tata. The company has nearly 30 Lakh users making it the second-largest stockbroker in the country.
Over the last few years, Upstox has increased its client base and ramped up its operations because of the easy availability of Smart Phones and cheap data prices. Recently Upstox had signed up with the Board of Cricket in India to be one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL)
The company has announced and passed on an alert to their customer of the data breach. Let’s look at the further details of the data breach.
Retail broking firm and one of the leading discount brokers of the country Upstox had alerted its customers that there has been a data breach in the company. They have told that details such as contact data and KYC details of the customers have been breached.
A spokesman of the company through an email statement had said that the hackers’ group has put the sample of the data on the Dark Web. The spokesman of the company added on saying that for now, the company is not exactly sure about the certainty of the number of customers whose data has been exposed.
It is estimated that around 25 lakhs of its customers KYC data and contact numbers have been gained access by the hackers. This incident has happened in the midst of data breaches in some of the leading domestic companies and global giants such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Mobikwik.
The company has said that they had received receipts of emails that claimed unauthorized access to their databases. In response to it, the company has appointed a leading international cyber-security firm that will investigate the possibilities of the data breach of KYC details of customers. They would investigate on the KYC data stored in third-party data warehouse systems.
The spokesman of the company has added that as a proactive measure the company has taken steps to initiate multiple security enhancements which will particularly concentrate on the third-party warehouses.
The company has also taken steps to increase real-time monitoring to 24/7 and adding an additional ring-fencing to its network said the spokesman of the company.
He added that the company has ensured to restrict the access to the databases which has impacted in the breach. The company has also added multiple security enhancements at all third-party warehouses.
Upstox has taken measures to speed up its bug bounty programme to encourage the ethical hackers to stress-test its systems and protocols. This is a step taken by the company where it makes ethical hackers to hack into their systems to understand the vulnerabilities and identify the problems in the safety of the company’s data. This activity will be undertaken from time to time in regular intervals.
The company has taken an abundant caution towards the security of the customers. The company has taken the initiative to provide a secured password reset through OTPs for all its customers. The company has said that they take the safety of customers very seriously.
The CEO of the company Ravi Kumar has said that this time the company has strongly fortified its systems to the most highest standards to ensure higher safety.
The company has always made the customers to use unique passwords that are strong. They have ensured that the customers would change their passwords in regular intervals and stressed on not to share their OTPs with anyone.
The company has said that it has also taken steps to warn the customers about the online frauds and to double-check the legitimacy of the links and senders. They have asked the customers to keep a check on the OTPs they receive and the ones they have requested.
Upstox has always asked its customers to report and alert the service providers if they notice such activities.
The spokesperson of Upstox has said that, the funds and securities of all Upstox customers are safe and have been protected by the company.
Ravi Kumar who is the CEO and Co-founder of the company has also tweeted about it saying that funds and securities of the customers are protected and kept safe by the company.
FAQ
Is Upstox funded by Ratan Tata?
Yes. Upstox is an online discount stock broker backed by funding from Mr. Ratan Tata. He held 1.33% stake in the company As of Jan 2020.
Who is owner of Upstox?
Founders of RKSV Securities (Changed to Upstox Later) are Ravi Kumar, Raghu Kumar and Shrinivas Viswanath are the owner of Upstox.
Is Upstox SEBI registered?
Yes, It is registered with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a stock broker.
Conclusion
These are the steps taken by Upstox regarding their data breach.
Password Managers are considered to be essential even if it for your personal use or a business. In the recent years with the increase of cyber crimes and various other cyber related activities, it is always wise to choose a password manager for your business or an enterprise. Let’s look at some of the reasons why password management is important for your business.
Your employees are most likely not to use any strong passwords. Most of them would not like to create new passwords and most likely they would choose to go with a simpler one. As we tend to forget passwords many of us use the password that we have already used across various platforms.
Nowadays with password-cracking software, it is easy to crack all the passwords and it is said that passwords which were considered strong and safe 5 years back are considered to be easy to crack now. Hence password manager is important for setting up of strong passwords and automation of logins.
You will have to invest some of your time to create a unique password and most of them would randomly make a unique password. The carelessness of some employees may lead to the breach of data. Passwords aren’t considered secure unless and until it has 12 characters with a combination of upper, lower case, special characters, and numbers.
Some of them would take initiative and patience to create a unique password but they will have to ensure that they memorize them. Because of this the people again try to repeat the same passwords across different platforms.
Password managers have inbuilt algorithms that can generate unique passwords and store them securely which will let you use the platforms without remembering the passwords.
Remembering passwords
Most of the companies try to make a secure environment by asking the employees to change passwords after regular intervals. This sounds to be secure, but when put into practical use it is not.
When the employees are asked for a frequent password change, your employees would find it hard to remember and they would save the passwords for an easy access to it.
They may note it down in some platform or physically write it down. This is again considered to be risky. Whereas the password managers provide an option to not have to remember the passwords.
It is considered by the IT departments that the major task they undertake is retrieving the passwords on a daily basis. The employees may forget their passwords because of frequent changing of passwords or because they tried creating a unique password and couldn’t memorize it.
The retrieval of passwords would take a lot of time of the help desk and this is not a cost-effective task for a company. Whereas password managers have features where you wouldn’t have to remember or memorize your unique password.
Browser Password management
Most of the browsers offer a feature for password management. They will provide you an option to remember your passwords, so that you can easily log in to your frequently used platforms. But this is not a password manager and does not ensure safety. This feature is only for ease of use of the browser and to increase the number of people to use the browser.
It means that your login credentials and details are easily accessible by any hacker and are left out in the open.
Cost of data breach in India
Phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are the most effective ways through which cyber criminals try getting access to your login credentials. Phishing emails or forwarded messages would seem like its from a legitimate source. But that actually is a way to get access to your login credential and will solely capture your passwords.
Phishing Attack
It is most likely that a human being gets into a phishing attack than a password manager. Password managers will have a record of trusted websites and if the domain name doesn’t match, they wouldn’t provide the login credentials.
Multi-factor authentication and syncing of devices
You will most probably need to login through various devices such as mobile phones, desktops, tablets, etc. and there are no specific platforms or an application which will easily let you login through devices other than password managers. Password managers will provide an option to sync between various devices of your choice.
Two-factor authentication provides an extra layer of security to your passwords. It is a feature which is provided by various password managers which uses an extra step to access your login credentials such as answering a question or sending an OTP to your mobile phone. This will add an extra layer of protection to every data stored in your password manager.
FAQ
Is it good to have a password manager?
Many people re-use the same password on multiple websites. Password managers makes it possible and easy to use a different random password for every account.
Can malware change your password?
A malware in your computer with the help of the third party could reset your passwords on other websites and gain access to almost any of your online accounts.
What is the best Password Manager 2020?
LastPass is considered the best Password Manager, because of its ease of use convenience, security and price.
Conclusion
There are a lot more benefits of using a password manager for your business. It can be one of the effective tools which are required by your business.
A password manager has a lot of benefits. It would help you in a lot of ways and the doubt which you would have in your mind would be “Can I rely on a password manager”. You can read the below article to get a clear understanding of whether password managers are reliable or not.
Password managers offer you both security and convenience. Password Managers remember all your passwords and make it easier for you. It provides you with your password whenever you require to access that particular platform.
This gives you an opportunity to easily create strong and very unique passwords as you need not have to remember all your passwords. You will have to ensure that you entered the details of the log in to your password manager. You will not have to remember all your passwords or memorize them.
You will have to just remember a single password that is the master password to unlock your password manager. Hence password manager ensures security as well as convenience.
Password Managers are one of the safest ways to keep your passwords safe. Ron Culler who is a senior director of technology and solutions at ADT Cybersecurity said that “Password managers are safe and far safer than not using one”.
Password managers ensure your passwords are safe and it encourages the users to maintain a good security hygiene. This is considered to be a partial reason. Through password managers, you can easily create very unique passwords which are strong and which you don’t have to remember. You can even create long and complex passwords.
If it was during the early days of the internet it would have been easy for an individual to create unique passwords and memorize them but now it is next to impossible.
The password manager company LastPass has said that the average user of its password manager has around 191 passwords which are managed by the company’s password manager application. This makes the tool essential in this era and in the coming years.
Two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is one of the best feature available for the password manager applications. This provides double safety for the users. It’s like adding an extra safety wall for your passwords.
The working of the password manager is as follows. You will not have to remember or memorize all your passwords you feed in the application. There will be a master password and you will just have to remember and memorize it. Using this master password, you will be able to access all your other passwords.
Two factor Authentication
So, this master password is the key for all your passwords. You can make it as long and complicated as per your choice. The two-factor verification will provide double security for your password manager.
Examples of two-factor verification refer to an additional pin or some questions which will be asked after you enter your master password or an OTP will be sent to double-check whether the person trying to access to it is legitimate.
Through a two-step verification process the password manager ensures that all your passwords are double safe and kept away from easily getting in hands of cybercriminals or hackers.
This is the most important technique you need to know about password managers. All the leading password managers using this technique called Zero-Knowledge.
In simple terms, Zero-Knowledge technology means that even though the password manager knows all your passwords and data, the company that manufactures all these wouldn’t have any idea about it.
What makes a password manager safe is its Zero-Knowledge Technology and security model which consists of three layers of defense. The first layer will be the encrypted user data, the second is the manager’s password which is not kept on the system and the security key.
To get access to the information the cybercriminals or hackers will have to get through all these three layers of defense. These defensive layers will greatly reduce the risk that the password manager can be hacked by just a middleman. This was the information provided by Chris Hallenbeck who is the Chief Information Officer of the cybersecurity firm Tanium.
Chris Hallenbeck also said that even if a password manager company gets hacked the customer data will not be compromised because of it.
Mike Kiser who is a senior identity strategist at the security firm SailPoint told that “Any tool has weaknesses”. But he points out that you would be far more likely to fall into a low-tech phishing attack than having your password manager hacked.
Mike Kiser added on saying that he would still use one and the advantages of the password manager far outweigh its security risks.
Password Managers are reliable and the level of reliability would depend on the company you choose. It would also depend on the versions as a premium version would be more reliable than a free version.
FAQ
How reliable are password managers?
Majority of cyber-security specialists agree that password managers are indeed the most secure way to protect your passwords.
What is the best and safest password manager?
LastPass is the best and safest password manager.
Does Apple have a password manager?
Apple has a full-fledged password manager built into iOS and macOS, it stores all of your sensitive information with end-to-end encryption and syncs it across all of your Apple devices.
Conclusion
No Solution can be considered to be perfectly safe all the time but by using a password manager can be the best possible way to protect your passwords.
Protection of important data is the need for the hour and it has become increasingly hard in recent years. Cyber-attacks have been increasing over the years. If we look at the last 5 years there has been an increase in the crimes from 49,455 cases in 2015 to 6,96,938 cases in 2020 in India. This rapidly increasing Cyberattack has increased the demand for cybersecurity professionals who can predict, detect and safeguard organizations from Cyberattacks. Look at the list of Top Cybersecurity courses in India to excel in a Cybersecurity career
According to PWC, the cybersecurity market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6 percent from USD 1,97 billion in 2019 to $3.05 billion by 2022. However, there is a scarcity of skilled professionals in the field of cybersecurity, despite the fact that it is a high-demand job.
Here’s the list of Top Cybersecurity Courses in India:
Master Certification in Cyber security (Jigsaw academy with HackerU)
Jigsaw Academy with HackerU
Jigsaw Academy offers programmes in data science and emerging technologies. It was recognized as the No.1 institute for data science training and a global award-winning institute. It is headquartered in Bangalore, India. HackerU is a world-renowned provider of cyber security knowledge transfer, technological solutions and services. It is based in Israel. HackerU partners with educational institutes around the globe for providing cyber security training.
The Master’s programme provided by Jigsaw academy in association with HackerU is the only master’s certification in India that focuses on offensive cybersecurity technologies. This programme helps to understand the hacker’s state of mind through an in-depth study of technologies required to protect the organizations from cyber-attacks.
Duration – The total duration of the programme is 11 months and it is completely online with live sessions. The academy also provides 100% placement on completion.
Praxis is a premier B-School in Kolkata providing 9 months full–time Post Graduation Diploma in Cybersecurity. Praxis Business School endeavours to bring to you – a program that combines the art and science of theoretical learning with the virtues of practical training.
Praxis claims that this is the only programme in the country that is designed to create industry-ready Cyber Warriors. It addresses three aspects of the Cyber Security ecosystem: people, process and technology. To make the programme relevant and to provide efficiency for students Praxis has partnered with CISCO, Fortinet, ISACA (Kolkata Chapter), British Standards Institute and Infosec Foundation to provide industry training.
The programme provides a combination of lectures, lab work, case studies and projects consisting of three trimesters with specializations in SOC analysis, digital forensics, security incident handling and information cyber audit.
Duration – The duration of the programme is 9 months with 525 hours of classroom training and lab work.
Certified Ethical Hacker and certified Information System Security professional – Simplilearn
Simplilearn Course on Cybersecurity
Simplilearn is one of the world’s leading certification training providers. They partner with companies and individuals to provide training and coaching to achieve career goals. They have trained more than 20,00,000 professionals with more than 400 courses.
The programme verifies your advanced security skillsets. Many IT departments have made CEH a must required qualification for Cyber Security related jobs. This certification provides tools and information used by a hacker and helps you to think like a hacker to manage the security of the organization’s data.
This programme helps you develop expertise in defining the architecture and in designing, building, and maintaining a secure business environment for your organization using globally approved Information Security standards.
Duration – 40 hours of applied learning.
Cost of the programme – Rs. 39,999 for CEH and Rs. 24,999 for CISSP.
PG Diploma/MTech/MS in Cybersecurity – Reva University
Reva University Course on Cyber Security
REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence (RACE) aims to develop enterprise leaders for corporates through progressive and integrated learning capabilities. RACE is an agile lean startup that works with entrepreneurial zeal.
The race provides High end, cutting edge, techno-functional interdisciplinary programs. This Programme will help you to gain hands-on experience practical training in various security technologies to defend, detect or monitor security threats. It helps to execute a cyber security plan, develop privacy policies and to gain expertise in the subject matter of cyber security.
The programme is approved by UGC and AICTE. It has partnered with various organizations in the Industry such as ABB, Accenture IBM and many more.
Duration – 2 years MTech/MS courses, 1-year PG Diploma courses.
Cost of the Programme – PG Diploma – Rs. 3,50,000, MTech/MS – Rs. 4,50,000.
The common job profiles in cybersecurity include information Cyber Security Analysts, Security Engineer,Information and Cyber Security Auditors Security Analysts, Security Consultants, Firewall and Security Device development professionals, Computer Security Incident Responders, Cryptologists, Vulnerability Assessors, Digital Forensics Specialists, Intrusion Detection Specialists, Lead Security Architects, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
In January 2017 and March 2018 there was a spike in Cyber Security roles of around 150%. As per the reports of IBM, India requires around 30 Lakhs Cyber Security professionals and it would increase up to 35 Lakhs by 2022.
Conclusion
With an increased demand for skilled cybersecurity experts, a career in this field not only pays well, but also provides you with a wealth of experience dealing with crises and attacks in real time.
According to official estimates, the sector’s job growth is expected to be 37 percent globally by 2022, representing a $35 billion revenue opportunity for Indian cyber security professionals.
While most entry-level jobs in cyber security are held by associate degree holders and do not require very specific knowledge of cyber networks and security protocols, a four-year bachelor’s degree in either engineering or cyber security is always recommended.
