India was the top target for phishing attacks in 2013 across Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) and Oceania, resulting in an estimated loss of more than $225 million. Globally, India ranked fourth in terms of phishing attack by volume in 2013.
In the Asia-Pacific region, India was closely followed by Australia and China, according to a study by RSA, the security division of NYSE-listed EMC.
Phishing, a cybercrime that is equivalent of pick-pocketing, where cyber criminals acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details by sending in mails.
Globally, loss due to phishing attack was close to $5.9 billion, which is significantly higher than $1.5 billion loss in 2012. The total number of phishing attacks in 2013 stood at 4.48 lakh as against 4.45 lakh the previous year.
Brands in the U.S., UK, India and Canada were targeted by almost 57 per cent of phishing attacks in the first half of 2013.
The US and Canada remained the most targeted countries by phishing attacks in 2013 with a total of 63 per cent of the attacks. There has been a significant rise in phishing attacks in every Quarter in 2013, with the fourth quarter seeing the most number of attacks.