18 out of every 100 Indians’ data breached: Report

According to a Surfshark, the personal contact details of 18 out of every 100 Indians have been leaked. India is the sixth most breached nation worldwide in terms of cyber incidents, the VPN provider said.

Earlier, Surfshark shut down its servers in India in response to the new Indian data regulation laws that require VPN providers to record and keep customers’ logs for 180 days as well as collect and keep excessive customer data for five years.

Of the 15 billion breached accounts globally, 254.9 million of them belong to users from India. Additionally, around 962.7 million Indian data points have been leaked, most of which are passwords. The company stated the situation is extremely worrying, considering that per every ten leaked accounts in India, half are stolen together with a password.

In 2022'Q1, 304 accounts were being breached every minute. In the present quarter, breach rates are 6.7 percent higher. As of June, India's breach rate is 740 per cent higher than in Q1.

"Lack of privacy legislation puts India's users' data in danger of being sold, reused, or exploited in offences. While the country's tech industry proves to be affluent, the protection of personal digital data falls short when compared with international standards. Authoritative news sources suggest that current legal acts are outdated and require revamping, and digital privacy continues to weaken with newly introduced bills," Surfshark said.