Kaspersky reports 78% spike in cyber threats on Indian small business devices and USB drives in H1 2026
Kaspersky detected a 77.7% year-on-year increase in local cyber threats on devices used by Indian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the first half of 2026 (H1 2026), according to data from Kaspersky Security Network (KSN).
The company’s security solutions blocked 1,49,53,750 local threats on Indian SMB devices between January and June 2026, compared with 84,15,301 in H1 2025. This amounted to around 82,600 detections a day.
Local threats include malicious files detected on computers and removable storage devices such as USB drives and external hard drives. These threats can enter devices through infected downloads, pirated software and other files.
Kaspersky also recorded 32,12,339 web threats targeting Indian SMBs during the period, marking a 39.7% increase year-on-year. These included malicious links, fake download pages
AI platforms emerge as a new disguise for malware
The report also highlighted the growing use of fake AI applications to distribute malicious software. Between January and April 2026, Kaspersky detected more than 33,300 attacks targeting SMBs worldwide that involved malware disguised as popular AI services, nearly five times the previous year’s figure. Fake ChatGPT versions accounted for 42% of these attacks, followed by Claude at 24% and DeepSeek at 20%.
Infostealers emerge as a threat to financial data
Kaspersky’s financial threats report found that more than one million online banking accounts at the world’s 100 largest banks were compromised by infostealers in 2025. India recorded the highest median number of compromised accounts per bank.
The report also found that 74% of payment cards compromised by infostealers and published on the dark web in 2025 were still valid as of March 2026. Infostealers are malicious programmes that extract sensitive information, including banking credentials and payment card details, from infected devices.
Commenting on the findings, Purshottam Bhatia, Head of Consumer Business for South Asia at Kaspersky, said that small business owners often use the same devices for business and personal activities, including GST billing, banking and file transfers. He added that cybercriminals are exploiting these everyday practices to target businesses.