New Delhi, March 21 (IANS): Ransomware and malware have emerged as the topmost cyber threat of 2024 in India, with 42 per cent IT and security professionals identifying them as the fastest-growing type of threat, a new report said on Thursday.

According to the IT company Thales, cloud assets, including SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) applications, cloud-based storage, and cloud infrastructure management, remain the primary targets for such attacks.

"With data privacy regulations continually changing in India and across the world, enterprises need to have good visibility across their organisation to stand any chance of staying compliant," said Ashish Saraf, Vice President and Country Director, Thales in India.

The report surveyed nearly 3,000 IT and security professionals in 18 countries across 37 industries.

According to the report, 11 per cent of respondents accepted that they fell victim to a ransomware attack in the last year in India, with 10 per cent paying the ransom.

Despite ransomware being ranked as the top growing threat in the country only 20 per cent respondents have a formal ransomware plan in place.

Moreover, the report showed that for a second year running, human error remains the leading cause of data breaches, with 34 per cent of enterprises pinpointing this as the root cause.

"If there is one key takeaway from this year’s study, it is that compliance is vital. In fact, respondents that had a good hold over their compliance processes and passed all their audits were also less likely to suffer a breach," said Saraf.

In addition, the report mentioned that 93 per cent of IT professionals globally believe security threats are increasing in volume or severity, a significant rise from 47 per cent last year.