As the year 2023 draws to a close, India, having experienced unexpected cyberattacks the previous year, seems to have bolstered its cybersecurity infrastructure. The year witnessed a surge in cyber threats globally, particularly from ideologically motivated and state-backed hacking groups engaged in digital warfare. India, in particular, recorded an average of 761 cyberattack attempts per minute, with the automobile industry, government infrastructure, and the education sector being prime targets, as outlined in the India Cyber Security Threat report by the Data Security Council of India (DSCI). State-sponsored cyberattacks against India reportedly escalated by 278 percent over the past three years.
The DSCI report highlighted that Android devices in India encountered an average of three cyberattacks per month in 2023, with Telangana and Tamil Nadu being the most affected states. Noteworthy locations such as Surat and Bengaluru emerged as top targets. The year's initial major cyberattack targeted Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) servers in June. While the enhanced security systems prevented a replication of the success achieved in November '22, when AIIMS systems were paralyzed for 15 days, the incident underscored the evolving threat landscape.
Although comprehensive official data on the total number of cyberattacks in 2023 is not available, a Microsoft report indicated India's shift from the second to the fifth position among top nation-state victims. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported 1.12 lakh cybersecurity incidents in the first half of 2023, a decline from 2022 figures. The geopolitical landscape contributed to the changing dynamics, with Europe experiencing a surge in cyberattacks, particularly from pro-Russian hacktivist groups.
Conflict escalation entered the digital realm, with cyberattacks on government institutions intensifying during diplomatic tensions over India's stance on Russia's war on Ukraine. Notably, the G20 Summit witnessed more than 30 hacktivist groups targeting over 600 websites through Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, defacements, and data leaks. Post the Israel-Hamas war outbreak, pro-Palestinian hacktivist groups launched a coordinated attack campaign named #OpIndia against New Delhi, resulting in approximately 2,450 targeted cyberattacks led by the Pakistan-based group 'Team Insane PK.'
Major cybersecurity trends in 2023 included a significant data breach affecting Indian citizens, with claims of access to 815 million records containing Aadhaar and passport details. Malware attacks reached approximately 400 million attempts, with ransomware identified as a leading threat. Notably, Google reported the largest DDoS attack, emphasizing the vulnerability of servers to overwhelming requests. India, identified as the fifth-largest source of global cyberattacks, demonstrated its cyber prowess, with over 1.6 billion attempted attacks originating from the country in the third fiscal quarter of 2023, marking a 70 percent increase.
