According to Microsoft’s research, India is in the top three countries vastly malware infected for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices this year, after China and the US.

The research found the largest share of IoT malware with 38 percent of the total coming from China’s large network footprint upon analyzing 2022 threat data across different countries.

The US came in second place with infected servers, having witnessed about 18 percent malware distribution, according to the Microsoft Cyber Signals Report.

"Microsoft researchers found that India is amongst the top three countries originating IoT malware infection in 2022. Therefore, the cyberthreat landscape is real and security is the need of the hour," states the report.

In the report it indicates that India has been infected about 10 percent in malware.

Researchers discovered that the IoT malware threats had occurred in traditional IT tools, operational technology (OT) controllers and IoT devices such as routers and cameras.

It is said that malware infections are today’s threats including targeted attacks and malicious insiders, making it quite a hassle for traditional security measures to hold them down. As a result, Microsoft came across over one million connected devices exposed on the internet running Boa, which is also a traditional software largely deployed across IoT devices, as well as, software development kits.

Regarding connected devices, businesses and infrastructure operators across industries are gaining pace over complete visibility and weighing evolving risks and dependencies.

Researchers identified unpatched, high-severity vulnerabilities in 75 percent of the common industrial controllers concerning customer OT networks.

As there is immense connectivity when it comes to converging IT, operational technology (OT0 and IoT, entities and individuals are advised to rethink cyber risks and consequences.

"The spike in attackers' presence in these environments and networks is fuelled by the convergence and interconnectivity many organizations have adopted over the past few years," the report indicates.