Indian enterprises are increasingly being targeted by stealthier cyberattacks that exploit identities, APIs and cloud misconfigurations rather than traditional malware, according to a new cybersecurity study released by Infopercept.
The findings are based on anonymised data from 100 enterprise customers in India using Invinsense, a consolidated cybersecurity platform developed by Infopercept, a global platform-led managed security services company. The study analyses cyberattacks detected over the past 12 months and correlates them with exposure reduction achieved through Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM).
Organisations that adopted continuous validation reduced exploitable cyber exposures by an average of 76% within three CTEM cycles, typically completed within a year.
Shift Towards ‘Silent’ Attacks
Across key sectors such as fintech, banking and financial services (BFSI), SEBI-regulated entities, healthcare and manufacturing, attackers showed a clear move away from disruptive, high-noise attacks towards more subtle methods.
The most common attack patterns observed included:
Account takeover (ATO) through phishing, credential stuffing and business email compromise
API and application logic abuse, particularly in payment, trading and partner ecosystems
Data-first ransomware and quiet exfiltration, where data theft precedes operational disruption
Fintech and BFSI organisations were particularly affected by identity-driven fraud and API misuse, while healthcare firms saw an increase in ransomware and third-party vendor breaches. Manufacturing companies, especially those with operational technology (OT), faced ransomware campaigns exploiting remote access and flat IT–OT networks.
Exposure Gaps Remain the Primary Risk
The study found that most incidents did not rely on zero-day vulnerabilities. Instead, attackers exploited known but unvalidated weaknesses, including:
Over-privileged or dormant user and service accounts
Misconfigured cloud storage and access keys
API logic flaws and undocumented endpoints
Lateral movement paths across enterprise and OT environments
Across industries, identity misuse, API exposure and pivot paths emerged as the most significant contributors to cyber risk.
Measurable Impact of Continuous Validation
Enterprises that systematically identified and validated these exposures reported measurable improvements:
73–81% reduction in exploitable exposures across sectors
Up to 90% reduction in fraud attempts in fintech environments after payment API attack paths were addressed
No reported PHI breaches among healthcare organisations post vendor-access remediation
Zero downtime ransomware incidents in manufacturing environments where IT–OT pivot paths were eliminated
The report notes that the second CTEM cycle delivered the sharpest reduction, while the third cycle helped organisations narrow focus to business-critical risks.
‘Cyber Risk Must Be Measured, Not Assumed’
Commenting on the findings, Jaydeep Ruparelia, Founder and CEO of Infopercept, said: “What this data shows is that cyber risk is less about the number of tools deployed and more about how well exposures are validated. By combining offensive security testing with real-time detection and response on a single platform, organisations can measure risk reduction in practical terms. Continuous validation allows enterprises to predict risk going down, rather than discovering weaknesses after an incident.”
Implications for Enterprises
The study underlines a broader shift in enterprise security priorities:
Identity has overtaken networks as the primary attack surface
Data theft now poses a greater financial and regulatory risk than downtime
APIs and cloud configurations remain under-monitored despite rising dependency
According to the report, organisations that integrate detection, response and exposure management are better positioned to move from reactive security operations to predictable, board-visible cyber risk reduction.
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