Cyber shadows threaten India's digital growth story

India's rapid digital rise has created massive exposure to silent cyber threats, demanding urgent investment in real-time national intelligence systems.

- BY DAVID SEHYEON BAEK

India is fast becoming a digital superpower. With more than 1.1 billion mobile subscribers, over 945 million broadband users, and a thriving fintech ecosystem powered by UPI, the country has woven the Internet into nearly every aspect of daily life. From government subsidies and healthcare to education, logistics, and Al development, India is embracing the tools of a hyperconnected world. Its ambitions stretch even further—toward 6G, domestic Al models, and digitally empowered rural economies.

But as this transformation accelerates, it brings with it a quiet and growing threat: invisible, constant, and largely unmonitored.

HIDDEN THREATS AT THE EDGE OF CONNECTIVITY

India's digital infrastructure, while expansive, is increasingly vulnerable. Cybercriminals have shifted their attention from just big tech companies and banks to rural CSCs, small businesses, and even the smartphones of ordinary citizens. They are exploiting the very platforms designed to empower India’s future—Aadhaar-linked services, government portals, online banking apps—and doing so using methods that rarely make headlines but cause real damage.

Infected phones and desktops are being quietly harvested for saved passwords, OTP tokens, Aadhaar scans, PAN numbers, and cryptocurrency wallets. These credentials are bundled into data dumps called “infostealer logs” and sold by the thousands on Telegram channels and dark web marketplaces. Prices can be as low as Rs 250 for a government email login with working credentials.

This is not fiction. In one real case, a malware infection on a state government officer's laptop resulted in access to GST return portals, budget memos, and Zoho Mail credentials-none of which were noticed until the log was publicly sold. In another, farmers in Uttar Pradesh installed a fake fertiliser subsidy app, draining their linked bank accounts in minutes.