Tag: growth

  • Reasons Why These Startup Sectors Bloomed During Lockdown

    In the unprecedented time, where everyone is talking about the economic slowdown and financial difficulties, there have been a few startups sectors that have managed grow exponentially well.

    The Covid 19 pandemic has shaken the world and has brought many business to a halt, although startups have lost their momentum they are already on the path to recover while the newly created trends are expected to see a long term success.

    Nasscom said that 40% off Indian tech startups were forced to halt operation, however the investments and startups have shown resilience and recovered as India saw a rapid shift to digital services and payments. Data from industry tracker Tracxn showed that, investors have put in about $9.3 billion into startups in 2020 despite the Covid 19 pandemic upending many sectors of the economy.

    Ed –Tech
    Fintech
    Health and wellness
    HR tech: Cloud and SaaS
    OTT platforms
    Online Gaming
    FAQ

    How These Startup Sectors Bloomed During Lockdown

    One of the simple explanation for the growth of some section of the startups is the emergence of the “Covid economy” which demands or medical supplies and coronavirus related goods which naturally grew during the pandemic, creating lots of opportunities for new companies to step in and take their share of a rapidly developing market. These companies realize that post Covid 19, this new normal will be accepted as the norm for the remaining in the competitive business.

    For some of these sectors, the new normal would bring in newfound opportunities. A whole new market that was untouched before is now up for grabs. As we are talking of all this, some startups are already working upon the aforesaid scenario. Let’s take a closer look at the startup sectors that are most likely to flourish after the end of COVID-19.

    Lets look at the Sectors that Bloomed During Lockdown

    Ed –Tech

    One sector that continues to grow rapidly is online education. With Covid 19 locking down Indian citizen since the end of March, online education and e-learning platform have become the need of the hour and so has seen an astounding adoption and exponential growth.

    The online education sector is observing a sudden surge and people from all walks of life,  all the Covid 19 affected nations are looking up to alternatives of conventional teaching and learning.

    That’s not surprising, considering that a whopping 1.5 billion students were grounded almost overnight as cities locked down and schools closed. A report by BARC India and Nielsen reveals that there has been a 30% increase in the time spent on education apps on smartphones since the lockdown.

    People are afraid to send their children to places where social distancing is not practiced and hence the ed tech sector is tapping on every possible entity they can.

    Well known EdTech startups of India
    Well known EdTech startups of India

    Ed tech are coming up with solutions that find their usage in various places from universities and schools, to remote employee onboarding, and upskilling to learn new skills and hobbies. Byju’s India earliest Ed tech startup saw 7.5 million new users on its platform since it started offering free access to content. The time spent on its app increased from 70 minutes pre-lockdown to 91 minutes during the lockdown.

    The story is the same for other edtech players in the arena. Unacademy recorded 1.4 billion watch minutes while Toppr saw 100 percent growth in free user engagement in March. While Edtech startups Great Learning said its annual revenue rose 150 percent to Rs 325 crore. The Vedantu platform has also grown exponentially to 6.5 lakh additional learners across K-12 and competitive exams such as JEE and NEET.


    Toppr’s Growth To Becoming A Edtech Competitor During Pandemic
    With the unprecedented times of the Covid 19, the one sector that has seen anexponential growth is the Ed-Tech sector. With the lockdown of many Indianmetropolitan cities since the end March, online education and e-learningplatform have seen an astonishing adoption and growth. This however, is no…


    Fintech

    During the pandemic the demand for contactless solutions has accelerated the employment of fintech services. This growth of the fintech sector helped the users to check for much more personalized, multi optional financial experience and new trends in areas like banking payments, insurtech, etc. Out of 900 plus deals and $11.5 billion total funding raised in 2020, fintech topped the chart with $2.1 billion in funding and 131 in deal counts.

    In such times fintech startups play a pivotal role as they are a perfect option to the stringent and conventional banking systems which sometimes fall short on policies. For small scale enterprise or unemployed individuals who require funds on short notices, these financial entities are the only ray of hope. The pandemic has acted as a booster for the country’s fintech sector giving it the much needed energy and growth trajectory to expand its footprint across the nation.

    According to Inc42 Plus, funding in fintech is expected to grow to $2.7 Bn in 2021. This is why of the 11 Indian startups Unacademy, Pine Labs, FirstCry, Zenoti, Nykaa, Postman, Zerodha, Razorpay, Cars24, Dailyhunt and Glance that became unicorns in 2020, three belonged to the fintech segment. The growth volume stood at 70% from 1.30 billion transactions in December 2019 to 2.2 billion in 2020, while the value of UPI transactions increased 105% from Rs 2.02 lakh crore in December 2019 to Rs 4.16 lakh crore in December 2020.

    Among the leading deals in the fintech sector last year, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal-owned Navi Technologies led the chart with $398 Mn infusion by Bansal, Gaja Capital, and World Bank’s investment arm IFC, followed by Pine Labs at $300 Mn and PaySense’s acquisition by PayU at $185 Million.


    An Overview Of The Telemedicine Industry In India
    The Covid 19 outbreak has created many challenges on traditional healthcaresystems, as citizens have not been able to consult with the doctors physically. The telemedicine industry is expected to create more than $5.4 billion marketopportunity by 2025. Practo and DocPrime, mFine, CallHealth and L…


    Health and wellness

    The pandemic has pushed health and wellness services online and has resulted in a boom of online health and wellness services such as telehealth tech, remote diagnostics, and monitoring, remote mental healthcare, online fitness, healthy diets, motivational contents, and more. According to a report by Practo, online doctor consultations have increased 500% since March 2020, as five crore Indians are now accessing healthcare online amidst the Covid 19 pandemic.

    Companies like Practo and DocPrime, mFine, CallHealth and Lybrate are some of the leading telemedicine startups, while other small startups are looking to make it in the industry that is currently on the rise. The telemedicine market in India is expected to reach $5.4 Billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 31%. Innovative technologies are allowing health organizations to enhance the access and reduce the burden on hospitals through real time consultation with doctors through smartphones tablets, laptops or PCs.

    Telemedicine will reduce the time of consultations and improve the quality of healthcare services in rural areas, removing many of infrastructural challenges. Telemedicine can also help in reducing the burden on the tertiary hospitals by providing diagnosis and treatment to patients in their own geographical location and reducing chances of patient’s exposure due to hospital visits. While India is already one of the top 10 countries in the telemedicine marketing the world, adoption of a regulatory framework will help the segment grow rapidly.

    Well known telemedicine startups of India
    Well known telemedicine startups of India

    HR tech: Cloud and SaaS

    The rise of HR SaaS and remote working platforms in times of Covid 19 is not surprising. SaaS and remote working tools fall right in the path of success in such times. Businesses are also now understanding the value and operational simplicity that cloud adoption can bring to their IT environments, and various reports forecast a further increase in the use of SaaS solutions in 2021 and beyond. These applications would serve the founding stones for the majority of business operations in the future and a haven for existing ones.

    The covid 19 pandemic has been unable to dampen the interest of investors in Indian startups which offer software as a services (SaaS). According to a report by Brain and company the SaaS firms could capture 7%-9% of the market by 2022, and SaaS companies founded by Indians can reach upto $20 billion in revenue.

    The global SaaS market is estimated to grow to $230 billion in 2022 from $145 billion in 2019. Startups such as Zoho, Druva, Icertis, and Freshworks which breached the $100-million annual recurring revenue (ARR) mark, adding that there is a healthy pipeline of companies.


    Growth Of Indian Gaming Industry During Pandemic
    The Indian online gaming Industry is growing at an exponential rate upon yearand is expected to be worth $1.1 billion by 2021. The industry has experienced adrastic growth at the beginning of 2020 due to the pandemic. When otherbusinesses shut down, the gaming industry got lots of new users. The …


    OTT platforms

    OTT platform have proven to be time and cost effective, provide a more personalized version of the same experience and one can experience these at the comfort of their homes. OTT platforms in India are growing exponentially in the terms of subscribership because of various reasons. Digital India plays a major role in promoting the use of OTT platforms to stream diverse content from all over the world. One of the reason the availability of cheaper smartphones and internet has enabled a large chunk of the population to gain access to online platforms.

    Platforms like Voot, Sony Liv and Zee 5 are OTT platforms developed by existing broadcast channels to remain relevant and to cater to the shift in audience from TV viewership to OTT platforms. However, most of their content on these platforms are the same as the ones broadcasted on TV. With the entry of global players like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, users are offered a plethora of original content. Hotstar is currently the most popular OTT platform in India according to data from a mobile advertising and Internet service provider.

    Online Gaming

    In India, Covid 19 has taken this sector to the next level as there have been new gaming startups and platform have been reporting increased revenues mainly because of the pandemic. Furthermore, there is an emergence of new industry trends such as e- gaming, fantasy gaming and cloud-based gaming. Additionally, gaming is not only about playing anymore, but it is also about watching. the Indian online gaming Industry is growing at an exponential rate upon year and is expected to be worth $1.1 billion by 2021.

    Winzo games reported three times more user engagement and 30% higher traffic in online mobile gaming. Similarly Paytm First games also reported 200% increase, with 75,000 new users only during the pandemic. Three in every five serious gamers are now playing for around four hours more than before the lockdown. The online gaming industry is still quite an unexplored area in India but the companies that have taken the leap are flourishing and are now expected to grow by 41% in 2021.

    FAQ

    Conclusion

  • Bacardi: Cuba’s legendary Liquor brand and its remarkable growth

    It is near to impossible that someone has not heard about the legendary Bacardi brand. It deals in various other products like Grey Goose vodka, Cazadores tequila, Bombay Sapphire and Martini vermouth and makes the drinker remember the taste when they get to taste the solid potion. Bacardi has got a rich and long history and heritage attached to it since it was founded.

    Bacardi Limited is the largest American, family-owned spirits company in the world. Anciently known for its Bacardi white rum, now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels.

    Here we are discussing about the history of one of the greatest rum distilleries in the world, Bacardi. It’s story begins way back in the early 19th century in Cuba. Initially, it was only limited to the regions of Cuba and its people, now The rum generates volume sales of 17.8 million 9-liter cases worldwide.

    Bacardi, which also makes Bombay Sapphire gin and Grey Goose vodka, is the Third Largest International Company in India. Ranking after Diageo and Pernod Ricard. It reported 22% growth in revenue to Rs 837 crore.

    Bacardi Highlights

    Company Name Bacardi
    Founder Facundo Bacardi
    Founded 4 February, 1862
    Headquarters Hamilton, Bermuda

    History and Establishment of Bacardi

    Back when Cuba was still a Spanish colony, that was exactly when Facundo Bacardi came to Cuba in 1830. He was then just 16 years old tryin to make something for the survival. He was originally from Sitges, a port city in Northeastern Spain.. He landed in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second largest city, and found work at a local distillery.

    The distillery was owned by John Nunes and it was literally one of the city’s first rum distilleries.

    The Spanish Crown had originally banned the production of rum in its colonies in order to protect its expensive wine industry. The ban had only been reversed in 1796 and John Nunes was one of the first rum producers to get back in on the action. Although, the rum made back then didn’t have the common taste with the rum we drink today. It had been produced the same way since the 16th century and the people of Cuba called it aguardiente, which literally means fiery water in Spanish.

    The history and evolution of Bacardi

    The spirit was made by mixing water with molasses and of refining sugarcane. The resulting mixture would be left to ferment and it would later be boiled off into an alembic and condensed, producing a dark liquid that was 85% alcohol. Aguardiente was so harsh that most Cubans didn’t actually drink it but used it as medicine, soaking it in towels to alleviate headaches and to treat wounds.

    Facundo spent many years producing aguardiente in John’s distillery, but he dreamed of creating a more refined beverage. His first step to fulfill his dream came when he married Amalia Moreau, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner who had served in Napoleon’s army. Using his wife’s capital, Facundo was able to buy John Nunes’ distillery for $3,500 in 1862. It soon gave birth to the Bacardi distillery.

    The property Facundo bought came along with a colony of bats, which are symbols of good fortune in Cuba and would later come to symbolize the Bacardi brand. To perfect his way of production and make the Rum more favorable, he tried various strains of yeast, different concentrations of molasses and water. The fermentation of molasses produces several different alcohols, each with its own unique chemical composition, taste and boiling point.

    Facundo had no idea about the chemistry behind the thing he was experimenting, after months of trying he finally figured out which liquor he wanted to keep. The end result was rum of exceptionally high quality, the liquid was very light, almost transparent and was free from the foul odors of aguardiente. At first people would come to his distillery to fill up their jugs and barrels, but once Facundo saw just how much demand there was for his drink, he started selling it in bottles instead. The Bacardi rum spread like wildfire, and by 1868 it was sold across all of Cuba. It gave birth to the one of the legendary liquors in the history.


    The biggest Gin Revolution in India, making it one of the classiest liquor
    When we talk about Gin, the first thing that comes in our mind is the commercialshot by Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds(who owns a stake in Aviation AmericanGin) in 2019. The video gained a really broad engagement and fan base for itscreativity. Earlier, Gin had the tiniest section on the bar me…


    The tremendous growth of Bacardi

    Facundo was a humble man and had no plans for international expansion, but after he died in 1886, his son Emilio took over and he had much greater ambitions.

    During his early years, he transformed Bacardi into one of Cuba’s biggest companies, which now owned plantations and distilleries across the island. The Bacardi brand spread internationally in 1910, when Emilio started a bottling facility in Barcelona, near his father’s birthplace. Bacardi’s obvious international target was the US, but in 1919 the States ratified the Prohibition amendment.

    Prohibition wasn’t actually bad for Bacardi. Although the company couldn’t export its drinks to the US, nothing stopped the American drinkers from flying to Cuba to buy them. After the 18th Amendment got repealed, Bacardi sold over 80,000 cases of liquor in the US. They got around America’s expensive import duty by opening a facility in Puerto Rico. The reason behind Bacardi’s biggest hit in the US are- the Daiquiri and the Cuba Libre. These two cocktails were among the first to showcase Bacardi’s excellent use as a mixer, and they are still exceedingly popular to this day.

    In 1959, the Batista regime crumbled under the socialist revolution of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Despite losing their assets in Cuban Revolution, Bacardi was recorded to touch heights. In 1964, Bacardi sold 1 million cases of liquor and almost 2 million in 1968. By 1980 it had replaced Smirnoff as the number one liquor brand in the US with annual sales approaching 8 million cases. In 1993, it was wildly successful with Bacardi Breezer too.

    Sales Volume of Bacardi over the years
    Sales Volume of Bacardi over the years

    Currently, Bacardi is the fast growing market for tequila by acquiring Patron Spirits International AG in a deal valuing the company at $5.1 billion.

    Adding Patron to the Bacardi portfolio creates a enormous opportunity for the brand outside of the United States as Bacardi’s international distribution network will help grow Patron around the world, increasing scale in the global world,” by CEO Mahesh Madhavan.

    In 2019, revenue generated by the Bacardi rum brand in the United States amounted to some 180 million USD.


    Amazon And BigBasket Get Permission To Deliver Liquor In West Bengal
    The lockdown due to the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) affected the Indianeconomy in a bad way. The Indian economy came to a standstill ever since thelockdown has been imposed. Most of the industries except those which manufactureessential day-to-day products such as food products, medicines, et…


    Some of the Bacardi Acquisitions:

    • In 1993, Bacardi merged with Martini & Rossi creating the Bacardi-Martini group.
    • Dewar’s scotch, Royal Brackla and Bombay Sapphire gin from Diageo for $2 billion.
    • Cazadores tequila brand in 2002 and in 2004 purchased Grey Goose, a French-made vodka for $2 billion.
    • In 2006, New Zealand vodka brand 42 Below was purchased.
    • Bacardi also merged with Bourbon: Angel’s Envy.

  • Cracking the code of growth in Automatic car sales

    Historically, people used to prefer manual cars for the feel. And lack of traffic could also be the reason for not adapting automatic cars. But through the passage of time, the manufactures realized that the change in the system is necessary to adapt to the evolving world.

    Generally, users prefer things that are convenient and easy to handle. Driving a car is a perfect analogy. With proper training, it’s easier to learn how to drive a car with an automatic transmission. Not only that, it allows people to speak on their phones if urgent, search for music, or look at their GPS all while driving in the driver’s seat (mostly should avoid these things). When you keep on shifting the gears into heavy traffic, that increases the risk of meeting with an accident due to distracted attention. The automatic transmission car helps in decrease of confusion while driving and also reduce the tension. Hence, the growth in sales of Automatic car is tremendous.

    History of Automatic Transmission

    Users were initially dedicated towards driving the manual car. Even now some of them follow the ancient belief, which were similar in principle to today’s stick-shift vehicles. The first automatic car was invented by a Canadian steam engineer, Alfred Horner Munro in 1921. The technology came along at an exciting time in history as Americans were celebrating the victory of WW2 and building up steam for the post-war boom.

    The first automatic transmission design using hydraulic fluid was developed in 1932 by two Brazilian engineers, which was later sold to General Motors. One of the primordial examples of hydraulic fully automatic transmission is the Hydramatic, developed by General Motors in 1932.

    The most remarkable improvements in automatic transmission car design till date are the number of forward gears transmissions it currently consists. The switch from mechanically to electronically controlled transmission operations efficiently for the drivers. Mechanically controlled automatic transmissions have reached their limit in terms of future improvements while electronically controlled automatic gearboxes have only touched the surface of the possibilities.

    Then the 1948 Oldsmobile was the first model to use a true automatic transmission. By the time of 1950, the automatic transmission was ascended to the North American market and continued to grow in abundance till this day.

    Automatic transmission, especially, have some impressive features and capabilities. First of all, they’re often quicker for acceleration in comparison to manual. Automatic transmissions are completely in sync with these systems. The systems last longer, shift faster, and do a better job of keeping the vehicle performance up to the mark for the conditions you’re driving in.


    The working of Automatic Car

    Why should you choose Automatic Car

    There are numerous advantages of Automatic transmission cars in the modern world.


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    The primary advantage of an automatic transmission to the driver is there is no clutch pedal and manual shift pattern like there is in normal driving. This allows the user to drive or manage the car with as few as two limbs, it also allows individuals with disabilities to enjoy driving.

    Automatic transmission also reduces the attention and greater effort required inside the cabin, such as monitoring the tachometer and taking a hand off the wheel, allowing the driver to ideally keep both the hands on the wheel at all times and to focus completely more on the road. This gives an experience of driving leisurely and carefully at the same time to the driver.

    Control of the car at low speed is lot more easier with an automatic transmission cars. As these cars does not have any clutches,this condition makes the car to move slowly either forward or reverse on its own while in a driving gear called idle creep, even at idle. Because it never really disengages.


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    The automatic transmission parts of many vehicles have the same or better miles-per-gallon than the manual models.

    The younger generations are more into driving a Automatic transmission car, as they tend to learn the most advanced one. There is really no economic reason to choose manual, since automatics are far more widely available. After all, the car dealers wouldn’t keep a large stock of manual vehicles if no one is really interested to buy them. Technological advances are made for smoother and affordable driving experience in an automatic.

    If you live in a metropolitan cities where engaging in traffic is a casual fact of life, constantly shifting gears to stop and start really gets annoying. Even if you live in a smaller town or city, you would drive shorter trips or halt for multiple stops. Therefore, automatic cars are easier to operate with frequent use.

    Automatic Transmission cars
    Automatic Transmission cars

    Growth of automatic sales in India

    Automatic transmission cars have become a more dominant segment in recent years. The factor behind the drifting away from manuals is the growing number of women drivers in India, who are majorly comfortable with Automatic transmission. Hence, there’s greater demand for automatic transmission models, which makes up about 25 % to 30% of total sales.

    This has led to companies like Renault, Datsun, Hyundai and Tata Motors to follow suit and launch their own Automatic transmission version in their cars.

    The percentage sales of automatic transmission in overall car sales has increased from under 5% before 2014 to around 12% today. By 2025, the share of Automatic cars alone in the overall car market is expected to rise to at least 20%.

    There is immense growth of Automatic Transmission in India. Maruti Suzuki is committed and working on bringing the best of automatic technology to the Indian market. It has sold over 5 lakh cars with automatic transmissions since 2014.

    At Volkswagen, one in every three cars that it sells in India is an Automatic Transmission model.

    Volvo Cars operates in the luxury car segment. All of the cars are automatic by default that are sold in India.

    At Tata Motors, the automatic car sales goes around 25% of the sales of those models where the automatic transmission option is available.

    According to a report, the automatic car sales would take up around 15% of the total sales, which is inclusive of manual cars too.

    Growth of Automatic Transmission cars
    Growth of Automatic Transmission cars

    Some of the best Automatic cars in India are:

    • Maruti Suzuki Swift AMT, Maruti Suzuki Celerio
    • Baleno CVT which provides a variety of features for low cost and also decent driving experience.
    • Glanza CVT which is an Automatic transmission from Toyota.
    • Hyundai Grand i10 Nios AMT  
    • Hyundai i20 and Honda Jazz
    • Tata Tiago and Tigor AMTs are both value for money providing driving experience with decent amount of features. Can also wait for Tata Altroz AMT
    • Ford Figo Ti-VCT AT
  • Growth and Evolution of Hacking Industry

    They’re smart. They know their code. They got the ardor to get into your system. The strengths and the backdoors, they know it all. Yes, we’re talking about the brilliant minded, cyber thrill seekers called Hackers. The term hacking, means to gain unauthorised access in someone’s computer or private network for some illicit purpose.

    Nowadays, the word “hacker” carries an excessively negative connotation, projecting  images of digital thieves intent on stealing identities and letting disruptive viruses loose into cyberspace.

    It wasn’t always the same. In fact, computer hackers were originally viewed by society as technology fanatics who wanted nothing more than to optimize, customize and improvise. Decades later, with the growth of viruses and cyber crime – the traditional hackers got stuck together with those of malicious purpose and the censure of hacking began.

    Curious as to how this evolution came to be? Let us now see the complete story behind the topic- Growth and Evolution of Hacking Industry.

    History of Hacking Industry
    Current Trends in Hacking Industry

    History of Hacking Industry

    Hacking originated from the term “phreaking” (hacking phone systems), in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Gaining access within networks was called “cracking.” The primary motive of hackers was to get into the phone system.

    1980s brought with it the personal computers. More people, businesses and governments adopted to them, and a whole new world of technology fascinated the hackers. They had a gala time playing around in this new tech realm, and simultaneously, discovering the loop holes in the network.

    The law responded swiftly. The emergence of cyber criminals was met in 1986 with the first legislation related to hacking, the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act but this didn’t stop these criminals.

    Initially,  hacking was primarily done to get the adrenaline rush—the computer equivalent of sky diving.But over time, these players realized that they could make money off of their skill. Why destroy a file, corrupt a program and play cat-and-mouse with the IT team when you can rip them off with a code? A black market began to surface.

    By 2003, Microsoft was offering money to hackers that could corrupt Windows. Ethical hacking took birth to discover vulnerabilities and fix them before an unethical hacker gets in.


    Also Read: How Anshul Saxena became a Cyber Hero after the Pulwama Attack


    Current Trends in Hacking Industry

    Hacking Industry

    When cybercrime takes place on a larger scale, like to a giant retailer, the damages value upto tens of millions for a single business.

    Hackers make use of  hardware and software to test how easily a computer network can be infiltrated. Vulnerabilities are sited at any one of a number of points, such as the Internet connection itself, the browser or the operating system of the user’s computer.

    A decade ago, hackers crashed computers, making the user instantly aware they were hacked. Nowadays, hackers leave no proof. How could they get your banking information if your computer is crashed?

    Instead, they inject a Trojan that waits, undetected, then springs into action when you begin online banking—transferring information to the hacker.

    By the mid 2000s hacking was carried by state sponsored hackers, organized criminals, hacktivists and cyber terrorists. Some political attacks like the interference by the Russians in the 2016 Presidential Election or the Stuxnet virus.

    Hacktivists groups use their fervour about certain beliefs and plot an attack against a group that they disagree with. For example, a hacktivist group known as “Anonymous”  attacked the Church of Scientology by flooding its servers with fake data requests. All they wanted was for the Scientology website to take down a video of Tom Cruise endorsing from their website.

    Most attackers hack for the money. They hack into system and demand large ransom payments to prevent information leak.

    There were 1,903 breaches disclosed and 1.9 billion exposed records in Q1 alone, according to RiskBased Security.

    Some repeated patterns that were traced are:

    1) Presence of Misconfigurations

    43% of data breaches linked misconfigurations analyzed by X-Force. That accounts for 990 million records lost.

    2) Phishing is still there

    29% of cybersecurity attacks used phishing, according to go X-For ce. About half of the latest phishing attacks involve hackers fiddling with business email.

    3) Coin-mining malware

    Cryptojacking(unauthorised use of someone else’s computer to mine cryptocurrency) attacks grew a surprising 450% last year, according to Proofpoint.

    4) Extortion as the new ransomware

    Includes credential theft, downloaders, and infected attachments. There has also been a significant surge in direct attempts to blackmail executives.

    5) Missing passwords

    Nearly three-quarters of the records lost in 2019 contained email addresses and passwords, per RiskBased Security. 10%  had credit card or social security numbers.

    6) Malicious domains

    About 10 million DNS requests to harmful sites are blocked each day, according to X-Force.

    7) SMS leads to malware

    Android malware named TimpDoor raised prominence in early 2019. When an attack starts, users are generally prompted to download a malicious app via SMS phishing, or “smishing,” according to McAfee. These apps install an unforeseen backdoor that gives hackers access to corporate and home networks.

    Current Market Size and Future Projection of Hacking Industry

    Hacking collectively called Cybercrime is a major threat to every organisation in the world, its effect on society is reflected in the Official 2019 Annual Cybercrime Report, announced by Cybersecurity Ventures.

    As per the report, it will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015 marking  the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risking the reason for innovation and investment.

    Cybercrime might triple the number of jobs to 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions by 2021 — which is up from 1 million in 2014 – and the cybersecurity unemployment rate will remain at 0%.

    The international cyber security market size was at USD 131.3 Billion in 2018 is expected to reach USD 289.8 Billion by 2026, according to fortune business insights.

    Global security spending on identity access management is accounted to reach 10.58 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Spending on security services, the largest segment of the information security market, might reach 64.24 billion U.S. dollars in the same year as per Statistica report.


    Also Read: IT Services giant Cognizant Hit by ‘Maze’ Ransomware


    Conclusion

    Hacking trends are tricky to predict.With that said, there are a few ways you can innovate faster than hackers and respond to emerging threats in 2019 and beyond.

    *) Protect the endpoints

    Hardware weaknesses are common, means hackers can keep harvesting data in the easily. It should be kept in mind that the time to address device vulnerabilities is before data loss.

    *) Analyse human error

    Hackers sense vulnerability, and they target the weakest link in your network. Sophisticated social engineering as well as less-sophisticated blackmail attempts take place. Some user may click on spammy attachments, even after years of training.

    Awareness should be spread. Invest in smarter spam filters and devices that can quarantine and eliminate threats before they infect your network.

    *) Visibility is a security advantage

    Hackers love it when you make their job easy with an unprotected cloud database or printers protected with easy passwords. The solution is to install services that enable you to understand risks across multiple cloud environments and multi-vendor printers.