4 days ago

Over 2,300 Indian devices hit by stalkerware as the country records highest digital abuse in APAC

Covert monitoring is rising in India at an alarming pace, with stalkerware detected on 2,370 unique devices between 2024 and early 2025. This also coincides with the highest number of abusive digital behaviours in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at 3.4 incidents per person, with arguing in group chats, comment sections or forums identified as the most common practise.

The most prevalent forms of abuse reported by Indians include arguing in group chats, comment sections or forums (34 per cent), sending offensive or rude messages online (27 per cent), and digital stalking (21 per cent), according to a report by a global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Digital stalking in India is more than double the global average of 9 per cent, it said.

“More Indians are online today than ever before, shopping, banking, connecting, and building their lives in digital spaces. But our research shows that this same connectivity is being exploited as a tool of abuse,” said Jaydeep Singh, General Manager, India at Kaspersky.

Other severe forms of abuse in the include impersonating someone or using fake accounts (17 per cent), making and sharing deepfakes without consent (14 per cent), doxxing (12 per cent), and revenge porn (12 per cent).

The global average of using fake accounts to deceive or harass was at 10 per cent, making and sharing deepfakes without consent 6 per cent, doxxing and revenge porn was at 5 per cent each.

Research indicates that 52 per cent of Indian respondents feel unsafe online, despite high levels of awareness regarding the term tech-enabled abuse.

Globally, the study reveals that nearly 50 per cent of victims of tech-enabled abuse know their perpetrator. While 40 per cent of respondents who experienced tech-enabled abuse said it came from someone they did not know, nearly 50 per cent reported that the perpetrator was someone within their social circle. Friends accounted for 15 per cent of cases, followed by current partners (10 per cent), colleagues (8 per cent), family members (7 per cent), and ex-partners (6 per cent).

“From a cybersecurity perspective, the fact that nearly 50 per cent of tech-enabled abuse cases originate from someone within a victim’s social circle significantly changes how we should approach protection,” says Tatyana Shishkova, Lead Security Researcher, Acting Head of Research Center Americas & Europe at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT).

“These findings challenge the persistent assumption that technology-facilitated abuse is primarily anonymous or perpetrated by strangers. Instead, they highlight how such harm is often embedded within existing relationships — spaces typically associated with trust and emotional safety,” says Dr Leonie Maria Tanczer, Associate Professor at University College London (UCL) Computer Science and Head of the Department’s Gender and Tech Research Lab.