Greater Noida (Business Desk): Breaking passwords continues to be a trusted tool by cybercriminals to try to infiltrate into firms in India, based on the latest findings by global cybersecurity company Kaspersky.
From January to December 2024, Kaspersky solutions used by businesses here detected and blocked more than 16 million bruteforce attacks.
Bruteforce.Generic.RDP., is a method for guessing a password or an encryption key that involves systematically trying all possible combinations of characters until a correct one is found. A successful bruteforce attack allows an attacker to obtain valid user credentials.
RDP, or remote desk protocol, is Microsoft’s proprietary protocol that enables a user to connect to another computer through a network of computers running Windows.
RDP is widely used by both system administrators and less-technical users to control servers and other PCs remotely, but this tool is also what intruders employ to try to penetrate the target computer that usually houses important corporate resources.
When devices are outside the company’s local network, away from the protection of the IT department, confidential information will always have a huge potential to be stolen or lost due to carelessness.
“On a daily basis, we are looking at nearly 44,000 attempts to break enterprise and SMBs’ passwords and encryptions in India. That’s a lot given the current shortage of cybersecurity staff in the subcontinent,” comments Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky. “Although 16 million RDP attacks is a tad lower than 2023’s 17 million, building the necessary protection against this stealthy threat is paramount.”
Kaspersky foiled a total of 16,062,084 bruteforce attacks against businesses in India last year.
“With better Artificial Intelligence (AI) services at play, cybercriminals now have a reliable assistant to guess passwords and break encryptions faster. Once successful, a bruteforce attack allows an attacker to gain remote access to the targeted host computer. Imagine the repercussions of having a spy, or more, inside your computers. Thus, it is urgent for businesses here to really look into their IT posture and recalibrate their cybersecurity capabilities,” adds Hia.
