According to a report by IndusFace, India saw a 3000 per cent increase in cyber-attacks on application programming interfaces (API) in the July-September quarter 2024.
As per the report, PI-focused distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was 85 per cent more frequent than those on websites, highlighting the heightened risk landscape for organisations relying heavily on API gateways. There were 1.2 billion attacks detected during the quarter, including 271 million API attacks.
Further the report added that about 377 million DDoS incidents and 215 million bot attacks were detected. This marked a 145 per cent year-over-year increase in both activities, with DDoS attacks affecting 60 per cent of websites and bot-driven threats impacting 90 per cent. Additionally, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) suffered a 175 per cent higher rate of DDoS attacks per site compared to their larger counterparts. SMBs saw 354 million cyber-attacks during the quarter.
The report also highlighted that the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector faced double the industry average in bot attacks, with financial data increasingly targeted for theft and fraud. Further, every healthcare site experienced bot attacks, exposing significant risks of credential abuse and data theft.
In retail and ecommerce, bot-driven attacks led to a 50 per cent higher rate of vulnerability exploitation compared to DDoS attacks, indicating a broad spectrum of cyber threats, as per the report. Meanwhile, the frequency of attacks in the power and energy sector quadrupled. This was attributed to attackers exploiting lesser-regulated sectors for ransom-focused intrusions.
