Cybersecurity Threats in India: Digital Growth and its Risks

India’s digital growth has moved fast and there is no turning back. From UPI payments and cloud-based businesses to digital public services and early use of artificial intelligence, technology now shapes how the country works, trades, and governs. But this speed has also created a serious problem. Cybersecurity threats in India now reflect how this rapid digital expansion has widened exposure across various sectors.

By 2025, Indian entities are facing more than 2,000 cyberattacks every week on average. This places India among the most targeted countries in the world. These attacks are not limited to one industry or triggered by one major event. They represent constant pressure on the country’s digital systems.

The Scale of the Problem

The numbers show how bad the situation has become. In 2025, Indian organisations recorded an average of 2,011 cyberattacks per week. This is far higher than the global average.

Educational institutions are under the heaviest pressure. Schools, colleges, and universities faced more than 4,200 attacks per week, with some periods seeing almost 10,000 attacks in a single week. These spikes often occurred during exams or holidays.

Reported cyber incidents across the country have more than doubled in just two years according to official cyber incident data. Financial losses from cyber fraud crossed ₹36,000 crore by early 2025. Most of this damage came from phishing-linked UP-I frauds, AI-assisted scams, SIM swap attacks, and deepfake-based deception. Cybersecurity threats in India are increasingly affecting both institutions and individuals.

Malware designed to steal information has grown rapidly. Infostealer attacks rose sharply, while ransomware affected between 7 and 10 percent of organisations nationwide. In the education sector, ransomware impact was even higher during targeted attack waves.

Routes of Cyber Attacks

Attack methods are also changing. Many attackers are no longer focused on locking systems. Instead, they steal data and threaten to leak it publicly. Cloud security weaknesses remain a major issue. Simple configuration errors caused a large share of breaches, yet very few organisations detected these breaches quickly.

Email remains the most common attack route. A large majority of malicious files are still delivered through email. At the same time, attacks increasingly originate from infrastructure hosted outside India, especially from the United States.

The rise of infostealer malware is especially worrying. Tens of thousands of devices were compromised in just a few months. A significant number of these infections came through gaming-related files, showing how everyday digital habits are being exploited.

Ransomware has changed its purpose

Ransomware in India is no longer just about shutting systems down. In many cases, attackers now steal sensitive data first and then threaten to expose it.

This shift has made attacks far more dangerous. Even organisations with good backups can suffer serious harm if sensitive data is leaked. Sectors like healthcare, government, telecom, and manufacturing are especially vulnerable because the data they hold carries social, political, and economic weight.

Cybercrime has moved from simple disruption to strategic pressure.

Cloud adoption brings new risks

Cloud computing has helped Indian entities grow faster, but it has also created new security gaps. Many breaches occur because of basic mistakes like open storage systems or leaked access credentials.

Identity management remains weak in many cloud environments. Despite heavy investment in security tools, most organisations struggle to detect breaches early. Using too many disconnected tools has reduced visibility instead of improving it.

As a result, attackers continue to exploit simple errors that should have been easy to prevent.

AI cuts both ways

Artificial intelligence has become a powerful tool for attackers. It helps them create convincing phishing messages, deepfake scams, automated malware, and large-scale disinformation campaigns showing wider impact of AI on institutions and systems.

These threats now extend beyond businesses. They affect elections, public debate, and trust in information.

At the same time, AI is becoming essential for defence. Automated threat detection, faster response systems, and real-time monitoring are no longer optional. Human teams alone cannot keep up with machine-driven attacks.

Cybersecurity is increasingly a contest between AI systems on both sides.

Identity is the weakest link

Many attacks now begin with stolen credentials. Infostealer malware targets passwords, session tokens, and login data, which are then sold or reused in further attacks.

Hybrid systems that mix cloud and local infrastructure make it easier for attackers to move across networks once they gain access. This has made zero-trust approaches essential. Continuous verification and limited access are no longer theoretical ideas. They are practical necessities.

However, many organisations are still slow to adopt them.

What this says about India’s digital readiness

The cyber threat facing India in 2025 reflects more than security failures. It shows the growing gap between digital ambition and digital resilience. Cybersecurity threats in India are now closely tied to how safely the country can scale its digital economy.

India does not lack technology or talent. The real problem is fragmentation. Security tools are scattered. Responsibility is unclear. Coordination between leadership, IT teams, and security teams is often weak.

As India moves deeper into a cloud-based and AI-driven future, cyber pressure will not ease. The key question is whether institutions and enterprises are ready to operate confidently in an environment where digital threats are constant and often unseen.

The Analysis Desk at ThirdPol focuses on technology, employment, and the structural forces reshaping the global economy.