India Hit by 2,000+ Weekly Cyberattacks: Check Point

Check Point Software Technologies has released its State of Cyber Security in India 2025 report, revealing a sharp escalation in cyber threats across Indian organisations. The findings show that attackers are increasingly exploiting cloud misconfigurations, infostealer malware, and advanced ransomware techniques to breach high-value targets.

According to the report, Indian organisations faced an average of 2,011 cyberattacks per week in 2025—well above global norms. The education sector emerged as the most targeted vertical worldwide, with institutions enduring between 4,248 and 9,817 attacks weekly. Telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, and government entities also reported persistently high attack volumes, highlighting the breadth of India’s exposure across public and private sectors.

The surge mirrors India’s rapid digital expansion. Recorded cyber incidents rose from 1.03 million in 2022 to 2.27 million in 2024, with early 2025 data indicating further growth. Financial losses from cyber fraud reached ₹36,450 croreby February 2025, driven largely by phishing-led UPI fraud, AI-assisted social engineering, SIM-swap attacks, and deepfake-enabled scams.

Cloud security weaknesses stood out as a critical risk. The report cites incidents where unsecured cloud storage exposed 500GB of sensitive personal and biometric data, including records linked to law enforcement and military personnel. Despite rising cloud adoption, less than 9% of sensitive cloud data is encrypted, and most organisations struggle to detect or contain breaches within the first hour.

Infostealer malware activity also intensified. Between March and May 2025, 44,197 Windows devices in India were compromised by Lumma Stealer, alongside families such as RisePro, Vidar, StealC, and RedLine. In enterprise environments, AgentTesla and FormBook remained prevalent, with AgentTesla infections rising 22% year-on-year, largely via targeted phishing campaigns.

Ransomware continued to impact 7–10% of organisations, with notable spikes in education. Attackers increasingly prioritised data theft and extortion, leveraging zero-day exploits, AI-driven reconnaissance, and legitimate system tools to evade detection.

Commenting on the findings, Sundar Balasubramanian, Managing Director, India & South Asia at Check Point, said India’s digital acceleration must be matched by faster-evolving security strategies—securing AI systems while using AI-powered intelligence to anticipate and prevent attacks.

Echoing this view, Aathir Ahad, Chief Information Security Officer at Wipro, noted that as coordinated attacks and geopolitical risks intensify, India’s IT services sector must adopt intelligence-driven, identity-first security embedded across every layer of global digital operations.