Symantec, in its fifteenth edition of ‘Internet Security Threat’ report, pointed out that India’s surge in malicious activity has moved the country to the fifth position for overall malicious activity in 2009 from 11th position in 2008.

India is the highest spam originating country in the world, contributing 4 per cent to the worldwide spam volumes, while the country ranks first in the APJ region.

In 2009, India accounted for 15 per cent of all malicious activity in the APJ region, an increase from 10 per cent in 2008. About 19 per cent of the attacks targeting India originated in India itself. On the basis of web-based attacks, India has gone up from the rank of 13 in 2008 to rank 3 in 2009, next to US and Brazil. Of the phishing URLs identified in India, 91 per cent targeted the financial services sector last year.

“Malicious activity in China has come down by 1 per cent in 2009, due to stringent policy in domain registration, while in India it has gone up by 1 per cent. As the internet usage keeps rising, the country is becoming more prone and vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Vishal Dhupar, MD, SAARC region, Symantec, said.