RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das: rising cyber attacks a risk to economy

In a first, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das flagged the rising data breaches and cyber attacks as a risk facing the economy.

Das wrote in his foreword to the bi-annual Financial Stability Report prepared by the RBI that new risks have emerged on the horizon and these include the still nascent and mending state of the upturn, international commodity prices and inflationary pressures, global spillovers amid high uncertainty, and rising incidence of data breaches and cyber attacks.

In March this year the government told the Parliament that there were nearly 1.16 million cyberattacks in 2020, up nearly three times from 2019 and more than 20 times compared to 2016.

Das wrote that the second wave of the pandemic took a “grievous toll” on India, but the dented economic activity has started recovering from late-May.