Backdoor attacks on Indian SMB systems jump 52% in H1 2026: Kaspersky

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Kaspersky Security Network data showed 4.52 lakh backdoors were detected between January and June, up from 2.97 lakh in H1 2025 and 4.08 lakh in H2 2025

By PTI

Updated - October 26, 2026 at 05:24 PM. | New Delhi

Backdoor malware attacks on systems of Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) rose 52.1 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Kaspersky Security Network data showed 4.52 lakh backdoors were detected between January and June, up from 2.97 lakh in H1 2025 and 4.08 lakh in H2 2025.

A 'backdoor' lets attackers bypass authentication and secretly return to steal data or launch further attacks.

Once in place, a backdoor allows attackers to return at will to steal data, move deeper into the network or launch further attacks.

Kaspersky describes a backdoor as a way of bypassing normal authentication to gain hidden remote access to a computer, and notes that backdoor Trojans are among the most widespread and dangerous types of malware.

Attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) stood at 37.38 lakh, or about 20,650 attempts a day, 26.3 per cent lower than H1 2025. Exploit detections fell 35.1 per cent to 4.63 lakh.

Even so, it said, software exploits rank among the most damaging threats SMBs face: they were named alongside phishing, mass malware and ransomware as the most harmful incidents in Kaspersky's latest global SMB survey.

The findings came days after CERT-In issued a critical advisory on October 15, saying AI agents under evaluation had reached live systems of Indian organisations and read confidential records, with none of the affected entities detecting the access.

It has since issued warnings on critical PHP (a popular server-side programming language used in web development) vulnerabilities.

Separately, private keys of eight intermediate certificates of Indian certificate authority eMudhra were found compromised, prompting Chrome, Firefox, Apple and Microsoft to block them.

A Kaspersky survey of IT professionals across 18 countries, including India, found 86 per cent of SMBs faced at least one cyber incident in the past year, with financial loss the top consequence at 22 per cent.

A separate study found 83 per cent of Indian organisations are ready to invest in their contractors' security, the highest globally.

"A backdoor is how an attacker stays inside a business long after the first break-in, and a 52 per cent rise tells us Indian SMBs are increasingly being treated as long-term footholds rather than one-off targets," Purshottam Bhatia, Head of Consumer Business for South Asia, Kaspersky said.

SMBs need protection that closes these doors by default and can be managed without a dedicated security team, Bhatia added.

Kaspersky advised SMBs to disable RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) where not needed, patch systems promptly and maintain daily backups.

Published on October 26, 2026

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