Cyber insecure behaviour among Smartphone Users in India:

Introduction The smartphone has an impact on nearly all aspects of our lives. It has changed the way users communicate, socialize, and play. In a decade, the number of apps on the Google play store crossed the 2.5 million mark (Statista, 2018). There is a worldwide increase in the number of smartphone users. According to Statistica (2018), the number of smartphone users in India is estimated to reach 442.5 million by 2022. A report by Nokia (2018) indicates a significant increase in data c o n s u m p t i o n w i t h 4 G u s a g e r e a c h i n g ~11GB/user/month and 38% time within apps spent on social media and communication. Data consumption is increasing across all categories in India. Mobile banking is the fastest growing digital platform (RBI, 2018). All these trends indicate that Indians are adapting to the digital era. Worldwide cyber threats have increased significantly in the last few years. India is no exception. Indian Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has reported to have handled 53,081 cyber incidents (CERT-In, 2018). Kaspersky Lab reported 42.3 million mobile malware attacks worldwide. 36.42% smartphone users in India are infected by mobile malware (Unuchek, 2018). According to RSA fraud report (RSA, 2018), India is among the top three countries targeted for Phishing attack. Identity theft is the major contributor to frauds in India (Experian, 2016). These trends indicate cyber threat will rise. Hence, it is essential that users in India should embrace the digital era securely. Read Full Article