Many places in India have recently fallen victim to unrelenting hacker attacks. Online criminals are now not just targeting the high profile Gurgaon region. Cyber theft is spreading over the entire subcontinent, targeting individuals as well as businesses. One report shows that more and more youths are becoming involved in cyber crime. Another reveals that…
West Bengal
Kolkata in West Bengal has seen the biggest increase overall in cyber crime. Reported cases in the state have reached 356% already this year. Kolkata alone shows a 1033% jump from 2011 to 2012. Chhattisgarh and Haryana follow. Most cases involve phishing, lottery and other online fraud, credit and debit card counterfeiting, damage of devices, and hacking for personal gain. With a proportion of one police officer to 100,000 civilians and insufficient cyber laws, the burden rests on individual netizens to secure themselves against online fraud.
Ahmedabad
The popularity of online banking in the city has caused an increase of online theft. One industrial product trader lost Rs. 2,600,000 from his bank account in one move that took just 2 hours. There was no password authentication sent to the trader, just a notification of the successfully completed transfer to seven different bank accounts. Despite banking security protocols for a one-time-use password, the transaction was accomplished without the account holder or anyone from the bank noticing. The hackers had requested for a replacement SIM card for the trader’s phone, and the phone company complied after receiving an application showing the trader’s signature. The hackers used this replacement SIM card to pose as the account holder. Authorities have been unable to get any access to the destination bank accounts. This case serves as an example to individual internet users about the need for a personal VPN to secure their mobile devices.
Mumbai
The NCRB report showed a 300% increase in cyber crimes in Mumbai. Staffing and technology issues are a big part of the problem in this region, more reason for Indian netizens to turn to personal tools to protect their identities and accounts online. One case saw 2 brothers hack into a cosmetic firm director’s checking account. They took Rs 10,000,000 in just 45 minutes. The money was successfully transferred to 12 different bank accounts in Noida, Mumbai, and Navi Mumbai. An earlier case caused a company to lose over Rs 24 million in just 3 hours. A week ago, about Rs 1.55 million was taken from 37 individual bank accounts, some of them belonging to Mumbai policemen. The trend of online theft continues in the state from 2012 into 2013. Personal VPNs are the safeguard that these individuals need to secure their online transactions and stop their accounts from being hacked into.
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra
The National Crime Records Bureau has released statistics pointing to an increase in cyber crimes perpetrated by the youth. Kerala has been pinpointed as housing the largest number of underage cyber offenders. Other regions with high numbers of cyber criminal youths are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra, with a registered 43% increase in online crimes last year. The numbers decrease proportionately by age group. Many involve forgery, financial theft, fraud, breach and theft of privacy and confidential and copyrighted material.Andhra Pradesh and Kamataka are also severely affected.
With this widespread rash of targeted hacks sweeping the Indian subcontinent, individuals are in need of protection. It is not now just the IT business region of Gurgaon that is at risk, but anyone, anywhere, with a little cash to steal. Read on for more information on effective VPN services to secure sensitive data that can be stolen from online traffic.Here is the list of Top 5 Indian VPN providers.