Cyberattacks on Indian government intensify, emerges as most targeted entity in 2022

India has emerged as one of the most targeted countries in terms of cyberattacks in 2022. The number of attacks targeting India’s government sector surged by nearly 95 per cent in the second half of 2022, stated a CloudSEK XVigil report.

India, USA, Indonesia, and China were the most targeted countries in the past two years. The four countries together accounted for approximately 40 per cent of the total incidents reported.

The surge can be attributed to the significant increase in hacktivist activity. It accounted for about 9 per cent of the recorded incidents reported in the government sector. Numerous hacktivist groups joined and supported the Dragon Force Malaysia's #OpIndia and #OpsPatuk campaigns which laid the path for subsequent ones.


According to the report, the primary motive for these cyberattacks were not limited to financial gains; rather, they were used as a means of expressing support or opposition for a certain political, religious, or even economic goal.

Ransomware groups were also very active in this industry accounting for 6 per cent of the total incidents reported, with LockBIT as the most prominent ransomware operator.

While a majority of attacks were essentially on the same old theme, focused on compromised data and access, there were also a few attacks conducted to help highlight the various flaws in the country’s security posture and help improve it.

As per the report, threat actors have started developing and advertising services of dedicated criminal infrastructure which can be bought by the government (or individuals) and used for various nefarious purposes.

In the week leading up to Christmas, India witnessed a 314 per cent rise in cyberthreats, as per a report by Surfshark Antivirus. India had a threat rate of 24, which is 91 per cent higher than the global average, it found.

The country ranked third, after Portugal and Thailand, in terms of the most cyberthreats received during the week.