“This expansion is the result of the hacktivist group Dragon Force Malaysia’s #OpIndia and #OpsPatuk campaigns. Numerous hacktivist groups joined and supported these campaigns, which laid the path for subsequent ones. Government agencies in India have become popular targets of extensive phishing campaigns,” the report said.

India, along with China, USA and Indonesia, continued to be the most targeted countries in the last two years accounting for 40% of the total incidents reported in the government sector.

The report said that globally, the number of attacks targeting the government sector has increased by 95% in the second half of 2022, as compared to the same period in 2021.

One reason for this has been the rapid digitisation in this sector, brought about as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has increased the attack surface for threat actors, as well as made it easier for hostile governments and state-sponsored actors to use cyber warfare to target other nations.

The motivation for carrying out cyber attacks has moved on from purely financial gains to making a social or political point with hacktivist activity accounting for 9% of the recorded incidents in the government sector.

Ransomware groups were also very active in this industry accounting for 6% of the total incidents reported, with LockBIT as the most prominent ransomware operator, it said.

The long-drawn war between Russia and Ukraine has also led to an increase in cyber threats against state-owned entities. The report said that this is the era of cyber warfare, which involves weaponizing hacking to both initiate attacks and prevent cyber attacks.

“Cyber warfare can sabotage the electric and physical assets of a nation, and cause physical-world disruptions, along with economic damage,” it said.