Indian Companies Vulnerable to Internet Attacks Date:   Thursday , October 01, 2009 A recent study by Symantec and Frost and Sullivan states that Indian companies are susceptible to Internet threats and spend less on security. India stood at first spot in prevalence of Internet virus attacks in the Asia-Pacific-and-Japan (APJ) region. Datacraft commissioned Frost and Sullivan to conduct a security compliance survey of manufacturing companies in the country. The study states that India features among the top three countries in the region to be affected by vicious activities on the Internet, which aim primarily at stealing sensitive corporate information. The Frost and Sullivan survey in 2009 found that 92 percent of the companies had security vulnerabilities and were not spending on information security. Large companies take necessary steps for data security while small companies are not worried. “While data theft is the prime reason for attacks, 61 percent of Indian SMBs are unaware of IT security threats and 68 percent do not consider data loss as a major security threat. Unprotected infrastructure, lack of IT policies, poorly protected information, and poorly managed systems are concerns for businesses,” says Ken Schneider, CTO, Symantec. Spam incidences are increasing and 12 percent of spam in the APJ region originates from India. Mumbai features high in the prevalence of Internet attacks, with 37 percent of its computers affected. The spam activities tripled in 2008 as compared to 2007 globally. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, IPR and business information contribute 32 percent and 68 percent respectively of data loss, and Symantec’s findings reveal that 59 percent of the employees who lost or left a job walked away with some corporate information.