India ranked third globally in cybercrime incidents in 2024, with SMEs bearing 60% of total losses. Yet a 2024 survey found that 74% of Indian SMEs have no dedicated cybersecurity budget. This combination — high targeting, low protection — makes Indian small businesses among the most vulnerable in the world.
Top Threats in 2025
1. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS)
Criminal groups now offer ransomware toolkits as a subscription. Attacks on Indian businesses in manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics tripled between 2022 and 2024. Average ransom demand against Indian SMEs: ₹12 to ₹80 lakhs.
2. Business Email Compromise (BEC)
BEC attacks convince employees to transfer funds to fraudulent accounts by impersonating suppliers, management, or government agencies. Indian companies lose an estimated ₹3,500 crore annually to BEC fraud alone.
3. Supply Chain Attacks
Rather than attacking a large enterprise directly, criminals compromise small vendors or software providers — then use that access to reach the bigger target. Kerala IT companies providing outsourced services to Gulf or EU clients are particularly attractive supply chain targets.
4. AI-Powered Phishing
GPT-powered phishing emails now perfectly mimic writing styles, include personally researched details, and are virtually indistinguishable from legitimate correspondence. Traditional spam filters built for keyword detection fail against these attacks.
Essential Protection for Indian SMEs
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all business-critical accounts
- Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) — not just legacy antivirus
- Regular, tested, offsite backups following the 3-2-1 rule
- Employee phishing simulation training (at least quarterly)
- Penetration testing of public-facing web apps annually
DBes Techno Cybersecurity Services
Our technical support team offers cybersecurity audits, vulnerability assessments, and ongoing managed security services for Indian businesses. We specialise in securing Kerala-based businesses whose digital infrastructure includes Laravel/PHP web applications, employee cloud accounts, and local network environments.
