PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE
India’s rapid digital expansion over the past few years has transformed how businesses operate and how threats emerge in the cyber landscape. As organisations scale cloud adoption, expand online services and deepen digital engagement with customers, the attack surface has grown at an equally fast pace. Today it has evolved into a structured and financially motivated cybercrime ecosystem that is far more deliberate in its approach, especially with advanced technologies like AI and automation technologies.
In this evolving environment, cybersecurity firms like BD Soft, which works with organisations to strengthen threat detection, endpoint protection and overall security resilience, are becoming central to how businesses understand and respond to these risks. According to the CEO of BD Soft, Zakir Hussain, “Over the last two to three years, cyber threats in India have become more focused and organised. Earlier, most attacks were mass phishing emails or simple malware. Now, we are seeing planned ransomware campaigns, data theft and attacks that specifically target industries like healthcare, banking, government, and manufacturing.”
He explained that the transformation in cyber threats is not just about scale but also intent and precision. He added that attackers are no longer limiting themselves to simply shutting down systems. Instead, they are increasingly stealing sensitive information and using it as leverage through threats of public exposure.
Attack methods have also evolved sharply in sophistication and scale. For example, artificial intelligence has enabled cybercriminals to design more convincing phishing campaigns, automate reconnaissance, and even deploy deepfake-based fraud techniques. Hussain points out that, “Attackers are using AI tools to create very realistic phishing emails, sometimes even in regional languages, which makes them more convincing. Deepfake voice and video scams are also emerging, especially in financial fraud cases where criminals pretend to be senior executives to authorize payments.”
Ransomware also continues to be one of the most disruptive forms of cyberattack in India, with a clear shift towards more targeted and strategic operations.
Hussain explained that Ransomware attackers first study the company’s systems, identify critical data and then launch the attack at a time that causes maximum disruption. “A growing trend is double extortion, where criminals not only encrypt data but also steal it and threaten to leak it publicly if the ransom is not paid. This creates serious financial and reputational pressure on smaller businesses,” he said.
“Businesses widely use cloud services, payment platforms, APIs, and multiple third-party tools to stay competitive. While this improves efficiency, it also increases complexity and creates more possible entry points for attackers. Since financial organisations are highly interconnected, a breach in one company can affect partners and clients as well.” he added.
Hussain believes that the most effective defence against these cyber threats begins with strengthening fundamentals. He emphasised that businesses should prioritise strong basic security practices, including enabling multi factor authentication, keeping all systems and software updated, limiting admin access, securing remote connections and maintaining regular data backups that are tested and safely stored to reduce ransomware impact. He also highlighted the importance of periodic security assessments to identify and fix weaknesses early, along with deploying essential safeguards such as email security, endpoint protection and proper cloud configuration.
At the same time, he stressed that cybersecurity should not remain confined to IT teams alone. He explained that employees must be trained to identify phishing emails, fraud attempts and suspicious requests, while organisations should have a clear incident response plan so that every stakeholder knows how to respond during a cyberattack. He further underscored the need to review vendor and partner security and ensure continuous monitoring and leadership involvement to build long term cyber resilience.
As India continues to accelerate its digital transformation, the complexity and frequency of cyber threats are expected to rise further. For industry leaders like Zakir Hussain, the path forward is clear. Long term resilience will depend on disciplined execution of cybersecurity basics combined with continuous awareness and preparedness across every level of the organisation.
