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The real estate and construction sectors are highly susceptible to ransomware threats, ranking just behind the manufacturing and IT industries in terms of vulnerability, according to cybersecurity experts at the ‘SHIELD-2025′ event, organized by the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) and the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) in association with The Times of India on Wednesday.
Pradhasaradhi Chintalapati, a cyber security expert at Arete Incident Response, a cyber threat management company, stated that “the manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical services sectors account for 19.15% and 15.6% of cyber attacks, respectively, while the construction and real estate sector accounts for 7%.”
Experts highlighted that the increasing digitization of real estate processes has exposed sensitive data, including homebuyers’ personal details, property records, and banking information, to cyber threats. This data can be exploited by cybercriminals to deceive buyers and commit financial fraud.
Ashfaque Ansari, associate director and head of IAM India at Qualcomm, noted that “cybercriminals can use stolen information to target buyers with convincing phishing emails or phone calls, tricking them into revealing more sensitive information or making payments to fraudulent accounts.”
Experts explained that unauthorized access to bank details can lead to unauthorized withdrawals or transfers, while access to property records can enable criminals to forge ownership documents, potentially resulting in illegal sales or fraudulent transfers of property titles.
Badiga Srikanth, group director at Qualcomm, recommended that companies in the real estate and construction sectors adopt a decentralized approach to data storage to minimize vulnerabilities.
Srikanth advised, “We ensure that no data is stored in a single location. Instead, information is distributed across multiple platforms, each protected by different firewalls. This way, even if a cybercriminal gains access to one part of the system, they will only be able to retrieve limited details such as names, while critical data remains protected elsewhere.”
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