Ransomware on the Rise: India and Asia-Pacific Face Escalating Cyber Threats Targeting Manufacturing, Telecom, and Critical Infrastructure

Cybersecurity threats are growing at an alarming rate, and India and the Asia-Pacific region are becoming major targets for ransomware groups.The Monthly Threat Landscape Report July from Cyble shows how terrible things have gotten.

According to the report, India had to deal with a number of significant cyber events. One of the most concerning events was when the Warlock ransomware group targeted an Indian manufacturing company and gained important information like HR records, financial information, design files, and employee information. This shows how vulnerable the country's industrial sector is. The threat didn't end there.Two more Indian companies—a technological consulting platform and a SaaS company had their data leaked on underground forums. This included client information, payment records, campaign data, and server logs.

The issue isn't only in India. Thailand, Japan, and Singapore had the most ransomware cases in Asia. The Philippines and India were also hit hard.  The main priorities were important areas including infrastructure, manufacturing, and government services.

The situation around the world is equally terrible, which shows that ransomware isn't just a problem in a specific region. The Qilin ransomware group had 73 victims, and INC Ransom had 59. A lot of these attacks are aimed against critical infrastructure, which is made up of important systems that keep industry and public services running. Cyble's analysis indicated that there are more than 1,000 cyberattacks against industrial systems in the United States every day. This makes the US one of the most targeted countries.  Other countries, like the UK, Vietnam, China, and Singapore, are also being attacked a lot, which shows that this is a problem that affects both businesses and governments all around the world.  The dark web has become an active marketplace where hackers buy and sell tools to break into commonly used programs like WinRAR and VPN services. This makes things even more dangerous.

Daksh Nakra, Cyble's Senior Manager for Research and Intelligence, stated that cybercriminals are now mostly targeting India's manufacturing, telecom, and SaaS industries. He stated that businesses need to move swiftly to address their vulnerabilities, safeguard their supply chains, and protect their most important systems.This is because attackers are getting smarter and the threats are increasing every day.

Ransomware is no longer a distant threat, it is now targeting India's and Asia's most important businesses. Attackers are coming up with new ways to take advantage of weak systems in a wide range of fields, from manufacturing and telecom to SaaS platforms.The growth of dark web markets and hacktivist activity only makes things worse.Cyber security is a worldwide concern because key services and infrastructure are always under threat.This is a clear message for India that it needs to take quick action to make its digital defenses stronger.The only way to keep businesses and communities safe from cyber threats in the future is to build resilience today.

This article is based on information from ET CISO