What is Cyber Crime and How to Protect Your Organisation

The question of what is cyber crime has been a popular and classic question among many of us. Cybercrime in simple words, refers to a criminalized activity done through computers, a network, or any digital device. The Government of India describes cybercrime as an unlawful act where a computer or an electronic device is used for committing such a crime. The National Cyber Crime Reporting portal has identified 28 different forms of cybercrime that extend from cyberbullying to crypto-jacking. India hosts the largest number of startups and MSMEs, where most of them are still susceptible to cyber crime on a daily basis. Ranking as the 2nd most cyber attacked nation in the world, Indian firms are largely vulnerable to cyber attacks on a daily basis. The majority of businesses that face attacks in India are the banking and finance entities, apart from government sector and healthcare. Understanding the nature of cybercrime is the first step towards decoding cyber crime meaning. As Indian SMEs and startups are expanding, their growing dependence on digital infrastructure makes them more vulnerable to raging cyber attacks. Let’s get to the core and learn what is cyber crime for a business. This will list out all the possible types of cyber crimes that can take place, and make your business aware to stay cautioned.

Types of Cyber Crime

Cybercrime can exist in various forms, such as hacking, phishing, identity theft, and spreading malware. As technology expands, cybercriminals become more sophisticated and proactive in their attacks. Your organization must be aware of all the types of cyber attacks on how to avoid cyber crime and stay vigilant. Here are some major cyber crimes that risk businesses widely:

Phishing and Spear Phishing

Phishing is a specialized form of cybercrime where the cybercriminal poses as a legitimate organization or individual asking for sensitive financial data from the target. For example, the cybercriminal can pose as a legitimate business and ask for your bank information such as your credit card number or PIN details to initiate a transaction. Usually, cybercriminals send emails with brand logos and detailed information to evade suspicion, so you need to be aware of these types of fraud.

Whale-Phishing Attack

In this type of attack, usually the Directors and CEOs of a company are targeted. A spoof email, usually disguised as coming from a legitimate brand, is sent over to the office mail address of the Directors with any infected files to download. This usually occurs in case the Directors have any confidential or highly valuable information that the cyber criminals may be interested in.

Malware Attacks

Malware is a specific form of computer virus that is programmed to steal information and lock sensitive files with encryption. A malware attack is hence a specific program-based attack that causes disruption and damages the computer, its private network, and all stored files. Various types of malware attacks can endanger your company, such as worm attacks where the virus self-replicates and infects your system. India suffered from 370 million malware attacks in 2024, and it is expected to inflate more in the current year.

Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is one of the best examples of cyber crimes. This type of virus makes the entire computer system non-functionable and unavailable to its authorized user. The attack seemingly floods the entire system with unnecessary traffic till the normal traffic cannot be processed, and results in denial of service. The victim cannot access their system in this kind of attack, making businesses lose their entire revenue and customer trust.

Data Breaches

The most common answer to what is cyber crime is a data breach. Data breaches are another type of cyber attack where all sensitive data is leaked out, such as the company’s financial data, customer information, and intellectual property details. Data breaches are usually done by malware attacks or sometimes by ransomware which is considered a highly lethal virus for disrupting business. In case of data breaches, customers and investors lose their trust completely in the business, leading to massive financial drainage.

SQL Injection Attack

SQL injection attacks had been popular to easily breach and steal passwords, sensitive card details and also company blueprints from encrypted documents. Companies that face SQL attacks are susceptible to larger risks in terms of financial loss and loss of stakeholders. Sometimes, companies may even have to pay higher fines or may even lose their business license.

Hacking

Hacking can be of different forms, such as unauthorized access, third-party controlling of accounts, injecting malicious code in the target system or even taking complete control. There are usually three types of hackers, the black hat and the white hat hackers being the most common. A hacker, if finds out the system vulnerabilities of your business, may infiltrate and damage your business data completely.

Read more on how to protect your business from such cyber risks with a cyber insurance policy.

Identity Theft

Cybercriminals can steal personal data to impersonate an individual, resulting in financial fraud and other damages. This can be done through phishing attacks, data breaches, or social engineering techniques. Identity theft is listed as one of the great examples of cyber crimes as it has been increasing to a great extent in India. News channels have reported that almost 30% of Indian consumers have been victims of identity theft. As a business, you need to insure against such risks and exercise caution.

Examples of Cyber Crimes

Let's provide some real-life examples of cybercrimes affecting Indian businesses:

Case Study 1: Ransomware Attack on a Startup

Case Example

A startup based in Pune recently suffered a ransomware attack, where the company found all of its important business documents as well as financial data encrypted by ransomware. The company accountant noticed the presence of some unusual files within the system, which had no company tag or even company ID. This aroused suspicion, which immediately alerted all the users to isolate the company database and migrate that to a secured server. The company, however, was late to retrieve all the files and suffered damage.

How To Detect It?

This is how a ransomware attack occurs, where suspicious files or files with odd names may start appearing within the system of the attacked user. It is always best to scan the system thereon, and isolate all the vital files from it.

Case Study 2: Phishing Scam

Case Example

Mr. Hitesh works as an assistant manager in a Bengaluru based food chain. On Friday, 14th March, he received an email meeting link with the CEO of the company in his official email address. The email had asked for a quick transfer of money due to a financial crisis the company is undergoing, mentioning that it is confidential and cannot be disclosed to any other employee.

How To Detect It?

The first symptom of a phishing scam is to receive unusual financial or file sharing requests from a known or a reputable brand. It can be either an email, or even a message.

Case Study 3: Trojan Horse Attack at an E-commerce Platform

Case Example

Let’s try to understand better with other examples of cyber crimes. A famed e-commerce company has run payroll software for its employees for years. The cyber criminal has made a Trojan horse update by executing the same source code of the original payroll, and corrupted the payroll system of the organization. The company faced huge customer backlash, with a regulatory fine levied by the government for not taking sufficient precautionary measures.

How To Detect It?

The attack is known as a Trojan horse attack, where the cyber criminal duplicates and creates a clone copy of the original software for breaching into the system. If you see any software updates from unknown sources, or try to download any illegitimate software, trojan horse attacks may easily appear.

Impact of Cyber Crime On Your Business

Cyber attacks not only cause a deep fatality in your business but also result in a loss of customer trust in the business. Many companies earlier have fallen prey to cyber attacks as they had not been aware of the tips to avoid such attacks. These are some deep-rooted consequences that various types of cybercrime can cause to your business:

• Loss in customer trust results in low customer engagement, a drop in market share, and a further decrease in business reputation.
• A strong impact on the prices is likely to occur as a company that has suffered a cyber attack, is likely to lose customer and investor trust too. Businesses may have to sell at a much lower price to compensate for the loss of trust.
• Huge fines imposed by the government and business activities are limited due to lower protection of businesses against cyber attacks.
• Risk of business registration getting cancelled if the attack breaches governmental or national data
• Lawsuits and legal battles are likely to follow for lack of protection against such attacks on the business.

How to Prevent Cyber Crime: Security Tips for Organizations

Preventing unauthorized access needs some steps to follow. Organizations are essentially exposed to a higher percentage of risks.

Antivirus protection

The first step towards having a better cyber security system is to run active scans everyday or every week. Installing a better anti-virus software and always updating to the latest security patch is required. This lowers the vulnerability risk, and also counters new threats.

Employee Training and Awareness

Training your employees is the second step in ensuring against cyber attacks. Your team can still be vulnerable to the risks of cyber attacks even after using antivirus if they are not aware of the DOs and DON’Ts. From assistant managers to C-suite members, everyone needs basic training on how to combat and suspect any external cyber threats.

Data Backup and Recovery

The next step is backing up all the information your organization has stored in its drive folders. Usually, in the case of a cyber attack, the first risk is losing all the data as the virus wipes off the data in the first shot. Try to make a data recovery plan by transferring all your important files and system logs to a secured cloud location, and also by making regular backups.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

This is a clear way to avoid all forms of cyber attacks. Most applications as well as websites these days use a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system for an added layer of security. MFA requires your biometric or entering a new password to authenticate the system for you, which stops all unauthorized access.

Security Audits and Penetration Testing

Host security audits regularly and also penetration testing for securing your devices from any possible presence of malware. Penetration testing is better to use as a cyber security expert will try to find out the major vulnerabilities within your system and try to resolve them. This will spot all the risks, and clear out all the paths which a hacker could have exploited.

Incident Response Plan

Create an incident response plan that is thorough and effective in responding to cybersecurity incidents. The plan must include measures to contain, eliminate, and recover from attacks. Review and update the plan regularly to ensure effectiveness.

Insurance Protection

Buying a cyber insurance plan is the next step towards getting full-proof protection against all forms of cyber risk. Although you can protect your business from these above steps, it is getting your business insured that offers a comprehensive solution against cyber threats. Covrzy brings you complete cyber insurance as well as complete financial backup for all forms of cyber threats. The insurance plan comes with protection for major risks such as cyber extortion and cyber forensics help, where you can claim complete coverage for such cases.

Mandate For Data Protection Under Digital Data

To protect the rights of the individual, the Indian government has passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP Bill). This Bill emphasizes protecting the digital rights of an individual by mandating that the collected data cannot be processed for any unlawful purpose. Moreover, the individual's consent is required for collecting and processing the data.

Laws Of DPDP Bill

Any firms that are not cyber-insured, may face this issue of not complying with the DPDP Act, and hence may be liable for legal actions. Here are some of the propositions of the law your business needs to comply with:

• A business may collect the data of an individual only with their consent
• All collected data will be removed and deleted permanently once the purpose of business is served
• Data portability or transferring personal data is not allowed
• Every individual has the right to inquire and erase their data if they do not consent

Penalties For Non-Compliance

Any business that operates outside the nation but is registered within India also has to comply with the DPDP Act. All of this is checked and monitored by the Data Protection Board of India, and the board may decide to hear any grievance and equally impose a penalty. Here is a list of the possible legal consequences a firm may face if it does not follow the DPDP Act:

• ₹200 crores penalty for not complying with the law in context with any data involving child
• ₹250 crores for any form of data breaches or not protecting the data

It is essential to insure your firm against any cases of cyber attacks, as that consequently reduces the chance of all financial risks. A cyber insurance policy will cover all the financial loss in case your firm undergoes a legal trial for an accidental data breach in a cyber attack. Avoid financial mishaps by being insured against unforeseen cyber risks today by selecting the right plan with Covrzy.

Conclusion

Businesses cannot completely prepare themselves against cyber attacks unless they are insured with cyber insurance plans. Even with the most robust solution, a business cannot claim complete protection. There are multiple pre-emptive steps that an organization can easily take to ensure better cyber protection, yet without the right steps it can get vulnerable. This blog explains what is cyber crime with examples, and lists out the major types of cyber crimes that often occur. Check out more cyber security insurance plans with Covrzy to stay vigilant and maximize protection for your business.