Firms operating in China and Hong Kong(HK) have witnessed a surge in cyber attacks in the past couple of years. This was confirmed by a PWC survey which added that cyber attacks grew 969 percent between 2014 and 2016.
The surge in cyber attacks was witnessed due to a widely adopted trend where innovation has made household items connect to the internet for sending and receiving data. Survey respondents confirmed that news that the number of attacks has averaged to more than 7-a day accounting to half of the global average of thirteen.
China and HK are two top nations where adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) is on the rise. However, such connected devices are becoming leading targets of cyber attacks on an unfortunate note.
China stands tall among nations which manufacture electronics related to Internet of Things. But these electronics such as webcams and DVRs are proving as security loopholes that give way to botnet malware.
Security researchers believe that vulnerable devices make cyber crooks induce tragic malware leading to DDoS attacks on a network or Ransomware.
DDoS is a kind of cyber attack where high volumes of fake traffic hit servers which eventually lead to clogging of the network. Ransomware is a malware which is induced by cyber crooks into a database. This malware locks the files and folders in the database on a gradual note and then unlocks them after a ransom is paid to the remote hacker.
Presently, both these malware attacks are doing the most damage in the cyber world.
As per the respondents who participated in the PWC survey, most companies in China have cut their budget related to cyber security by 7.6 percent in 2016, when compared to the spending around the globe. Among those, thirty-four percent believed that their competitors were acting as a source of attacks.
As the threat rate has picked up in past two years, it’s better if businesses in China start focusing on steps which make them isolate themselves from cyber threats in a proactive way.
