Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 30: Cyber hygiene has moved from IT jargon to a pressing economic concern in India. The term covers routine habits that keep devices, systems and data secure. Think strong passwords, timely updates and caution with unknown links. Skipping them now carries a measurable price.
IBM’s 2026 data breach report puts India’s average breach cost at ₹25.5 crore. That is 15.9% higher than a year earlier. Financial services firms fared worse, averaging ₹40.9 crore per breach. The average breach exposed 39,500 records, up from 38,200. Globally, IBM’s 2025 report showed costs falling 9% to $4.44 million. India is therefore moving against the global trend. IBM’s figure covers detection, investigation, recovery, lost business and reputational harm. It is not simply money stolen.
Fraud data tell a sharper story. The Union Home Ministry told Parliament that financial cyber-fraud losses reached ₹22,848 crore in 2024. That was more than 40 times the ₹551 crore recorded in 2021. Losses eased only slightly to ₹22,495 crore in 2025.
RBI data offer a separate, narrower lens on bank fraud. Banks reported 36,075 fraud cases worth ₹13,930 crore in FY2023–24. Card and internet-banking cases made up 29,082 of them, involving ₹1,457 crore. So digital fraud drove about 80% of cases but roughly a tenth of value. That suggests digital fraud is frequent but individually smaller. RBI cautions that amounts involved are not actual losses. Recoveries can reduce them, and some frauds date back years. The two datasets use different definitions and should not be added together.
Recent episodes show how widely the risk spreads. Data exposures involving State Bank of India and HDFC Bank have been reported or suspected. The Hindu describes them only as reported or suspected. Issues were also reported at the Central Board of Film Certification and eMudhra. eMudhra issues digital certificates that help secure online communication. A flaw there threatens the trust layer itself, not just stored data. Banks, public bodies and certifiers are linked, so security must cover every vendor.
Scale magnifies these stakes. NPCI data show UPI handled about 186 billion transactions in 2024–25. That averages roughly 51 crore payments every day. Mobile banking, internet banking and digital lending sit on the same connected rails. A weakness at one point can ripple well beyond the first victim.
Responsibility therefore runs at three levels. Individuals need unique passwords, password managers, multifactor authentication and prompt updates. Firms need encryption, timely patching, penetration testing, phishing drills and vendor checks. Regular incident-response exercises help them contain damage quickly. Regulators set the frame, with RBI’s IT-governance rules and CERT-In’s incident coordination.
No system is perfectly secure. The realistic goal is early detection, fast containment and quick recovery. As India’s digital economy grows, that discipline will underpin public trust. For banks and customers alike, cyber hygiene has become basic financial infrastructure.
