LEGO Group And LEGO Foundation Donates US$1 Million To Support COVID-19 Relief In India

* The LEGO Group and the LEGO Foundation join forces to support Save the Children India to help children and families impacted by the country’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases~

The LEGO Group and the LEGO Foundation have announced a US$1 million donation to help Save the Children India support families and children most at risk in Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.  It will be used to deliver learning to around 20,000 children aged 3-14 whose education has been disrupted by the most recent outbreak, ensure food security for families and provide COVID-19 Care Kits designed to reduce infection rates.

Steen Lauge Kokkenborg, General Manager, LEGO Group India, said, “The latest outbreak is having a devastating impact on caregiving and schooling for the country’s most vulnerable children. We hope this contribution will provide some security to children and families as well as allow children to continue to learn through play and build vital skills despite schools being closed.”

Sudarshan Suchi, CEO of Save the Children, India, said, “Save the Children has embarked on a journey to reach and protect 1 million people across multiple locations in India, and we thank our friends at the LEGO Group for pledging US$1 million and providing us with crucial and timely support with our ambition. With this support, we will focus on children’s survival by distributing COVID-19 Care Kits, food and nutrition support and hosting medical consultations. Additionally, we will take our relief a step further and focus on ensuring learning continuity through the crisis - a fantastic aspect of this partnership. By concentrating on learning continuity, we are guaranteeing physical, psychosocial, and cognitive security that will ensure the growth and development of our children remains intact.”

This latest donation builds on an earlier contribution made by the LEGO Group in May 2020, when it partnered with NITI Aayog and Save the Children to introduce initiatives that promote home-based learning, while strengthening community efforts in response to the severe healthcare situation.

In addition to the contribution to Save the Children India, the LEGO Group is also supporting the state government’s relief efforts in Maharashtra where the LEGO Group’s Mumbai office is located.

About the LEGO Foundation

The LEGO Foundation shares the mission of the LEGO Group: to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. The Foundation is dedicated to building a future in which learning through play em-powers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Its work is about re-defining play and re-imagining learning. In collaboration with thought leaders, influencers, educators and par-ents the LEGO Foundation aims to equip, inspire and activate champions for play. 

Airtel Thanks App Makes Staying At Home A Lot Easier With Its 24x7 Service

* All services will be available at Airtel Stores and Retails stores from 6 am -7:30 pm 

Airtel will continue to provide all essential services to its customers 24x7 even during the lockdown. In Karnataka , the Airtel services will be available from 6 am to 10 am at all retail outlets and Airtel stores in compliance with Covid protocols. 

Airtel has made recharging all its services distance-friendly to encourage safe social distancing and in hopes to ease your self-quarantining efforts. The Airtel Thanks App allows you to manage as well as recharge all your Airtel connections without having to step out of your home. This includes, prepaid plan, DTH connection, data card, post-paid bills etc. Here’s how you can do it  

To recharge on the Airtel Thanks App, follow these easy steps:

Step 1: Install the Airtel Thanks App

Step 2: Click on the ‘Recharge’ tab. Pick the service – mobile, internet, DTH – that you want to recharge.

Step 3: Enter your registered mobile number or DTH account number 

Step 4: Select your preferred pack 

Step 5: Pay online with your debit or credit card, UPI account, or Amazon pay account 

Airtel Thanks app also lets you make other transactions securely from your phone such as paying electricity and water bills, transferring money to someone etc. This is Airtel’s bid to make the lockdown easier for you. You can do the same for someone else who cannot do it themselves, such as your house help, watchman or even an elderly in the nerighbourhood. Stay safe. Stay connected.  

India’s leading hiring platform for frontline workers - Apna Steps Up To Help Essential Service Businesses Hire At No Cost During Covid-19

* Apna has committed to make its platform available to employers free of charge and expand to new cities to help businesses and frontline workers across India in their battle against the pandemic

* Apna has deployed special services at a short notice to facilitate 7M interactions between businesses and frontline staff in the last 30 days to help reconstruct India’s economy brick by brick

Apna, one of India’s largest hiring platforms dedicated to the blue and grey collar workforce, is on a mission to help Indian businesses hire their frontline workforce in the shortest time. The businesses can now continue to operate and keep their essential and critical services running in these trying times. Apna has amplified its efforts for critical roles such as volunteers, nurses, healthcare staff, delivery persons, lab technicians, drivers, or any other similar roles. They have made their products and services available free of cost, in their bid to support businesses and communities across India stand up against Covid-19.

India is facing an unprecedented challenge due to the second wave of Covid-19, with countless workers recovering from severe illness, helping friends and family members or dealing with the loss of loved ones, making it harder for businesses to operate. However, if India needs to battle Covid and recover from the pandemic, businesses catering to essential services must continue to operate effectively.

Apna has set up a 24 X 7 helpline at 011-41219881 to help essential service businesses hire the right talent within 48 hours, so that business operations can continue with minimal disruptions. Alternatively, employers can log on to employer.apna.co and post their hiring requirements in less than 2 minutes.

Nirmit Parikh, CEO & Co-Founder, Apna, said, “Today, as India battles the biggest problem of halted services, shutdowns, and unemployment, we at Apna want to help essential services and businesses that need to operate to hire people with the right tools to help India fight the pandemic. Since the first lockdown in March 2020, our platform has facilitated over 3.5 crore interactions pan-India. By empowering our blue and grey collar workforce, we will together contribute to rebuild our economy and help India get back to work over time.”

There has been a significant rise in frontline workers looking for job opportunities on the Apna mobile app. Over 1 lakh employers including, 1MG, Columbia Asia Hospitals, Zomato, Flipkart, Swiggy, Wellness Forever, Kirloskar Chillers, and Bharti AXA, among others have leveraged the platform to hire talented resources free of cost. Apna is currently live in 14 cities and is growing its geographic footprint at a rapid pace to cope with the increasing demand from candidates and employers alike; Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh (tri-city area), Kanpur, Ludhiana and Ranchi are the cities where Apna is currently active.

Zomato, India’s leading online food delivery platform, backed Apna’s efforts saying, “We are elated to be working with Apna which is on a national mission to mitigate the impact that Covid 19 has had on the job market and help India come back to work. We commend the intent and drive of Team Apna to help the present-day employers onboard the right resources in the shortest time.”

1mg, India’s leading online pharmacy added, “We are closely working with Apna for talent discovery across job families and their quickest turn-around time is enabling us to uninterruptedly continue our daily functions and services.”

The Apna platform comprises vertical communities for skilled professionals like carpenters, painters, field sales agents, security guards, delivery personnel, masons, artists, tailors, beauticians, and many others. It is a seamless platform for both job seekers and employers, to choose from over 10 lakh jobs in 70+ categories based on their qualification, experience, location, skill sets, and interest areas.

About Apna

Founded in 2019, the Apna mobile app is India’s largest professional networking platform dedicated to the blue and grey collar workforce, helping India’s burgeoning working class to unlock unique professional networking, and skilling opportunities. The app is currently live in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Surat, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ludhiana, and Chandigarh.

Having raised capital from marquee investors like Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital, Rocketship.vc and Greenoaks Capital, Apna is on a mission to enable livelihoods for billions in India. With over 85 lakh users, present in 14 cities and counting, and over 1 lakh employers that trust the platform - India has a new destination to discover relevant opportunities.

Zoho Supports TN Hospitals With Covid Beds, Oxygen Supplies, And Medical Equipment, Contributes To CMPRF

Zoho Corporation, the Chennai-headquartered global technology firm, is helping hospitals and healthcare centers across Tamil Nadu with procurement and distribution of essential medical equipment for Covid-19 treatment. The company has also donated ₹5 crores to the state government's public relief fund towards Covid relief. Other initiatives underway to support the state's fight against the second wave of pandemic include an isolation care facility at the Estancia campus for employees and their families, vaccination drives, and community kitchens catering to villages around Chennai and Tenkasi.

On-going Covid relief initiatives by Zoho:

Procurement and distribution of medical equipment: Zoho is providing oxygen supplies and medical equipment, worth ₹13 crore, to various private and public hospitals across the state that are treating patients from the economically weaker section of the society. The company plans to scale this support to the rest of India.

To meet the high demand for oxygen supplies, Zoho helped government hospitals in Tamil Nadu get timely refills for 200 cylinders. Additionally, 200 new cylinders have been ordered.

Distribution of 700 oxygen concentrators is underway for government hospitals and corporation healthcare centers.

150 HFNC’s (High Flow Nasal Cannula) distributed to various government and private hospitals across Tamil Nadu.

80 CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines distributed to Rajiv Gandhi government hospital (RGGH). Modification of 5 vans are in the works to help RGGH with 'oxygen on wheels'.

300 beds have been procured for distribution to Stanley and Kumbakonam government hospitals.

Contribution to Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (CMPRF): Zoho has donated ₹5 crore to Tamil Nadu CMPRF to aid the government in its efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 and provide relief to those affected.

Temporary care facility at Estancia for employees: A 30-bedded healthcare facility has been set up at the Estancia campus to provide basic assistance for relatively mild cases of Covid-19 among Zoho employees and their families. The healthcare center is in compliance with BMW regulations and treatment protocols established by the state government, and is supervised by Zoho's in-house doctor.

Community kitchens for local food relief: Zoho reopened its office kitchens in Chennai and Tenkasi in the last week of April to prepare food to be distributed to local villages. Currently, the company serves 30,000 meals a day across Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpet, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, and Gudalur (Theni). Plans are underway to scale up to 1 lakh meals a day and to expand the initiative to Namakkal, Coimbatore, and Salem.

For this initiative, the team underwent basic health checks and safety training at the outset, overseen by Zoho's in-house doctors and safety team. Everyone is screened daily on various health parameters, and the company is ensuring that all safety protocols are being adhered to.

Supporting NGOs and hospitals: Zoho is supporting various NGOs that are distributing provision kits to the underserved in Tier II and III towns. 2000 kits have been distributed until now, with plans to add another 12,000 soon within Chennai. Zoho is also providing monetary aid to a few hospitals.

Vaccination drive: Zoho recently co-hosted a free vaccination drive in Madurai along with a few NGOs. The company plans to organize vaccination camps for employees and locals in other areas as well once an adequate supply of vaccines is available.

About Zoho

With 50+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific software companies. Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 9,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 60 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. 

Happiest Minds’ FY21 Total Income Grows At 11.7% To ₹ 798 Crores While PAT Up ₹ 162 Crore And Recommends Maiden Dividend

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE:HAPPSTMNDS), a ‘Born Digital. Born Agile’, digital transformation and IT solutions company, today announced its  consolidated results today for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2021 as approved by its Board of Directors.

Ashok Soota, Executive Chairman, Happiest Minds Technologies said, “The highlight for the year FY21 was our successful   IPO. We have been able to fulfil all our promises and are grateful to our customers, our team, and all stakeholders, who helped make this possible. As we begin FY22, we will look to achieving 20 percent organic growth as indicated at the time of our IPO.”

Financial highlights:

Venkatraman N, MD & CFO, Happiest Minds Technologies talking on the financials said, “Our fiscal year revenue growth of 6.3% in US$ terms is reflective of our business model which positions us as a go to player for customers building a digital ready enterprise. Revenues for the quarter grew sequentially by 15.4% which includes Pimcore Global Services (PGS) the Company we acquired earlier during the Quarter. Our growth for the quarter even on a standalone basis has been robust. Considering our performance, strong cash generation and capital allocation priorities, I am happy to highlight the maiden divided of ₹ 3 per share recommended by the Board.”

Quarter ended March 31, 2021

·         Operating Revenues stood at $30.2 million (growth of 15.4% q-o-q ; 18.0% y-o-y)

·         Total Income stood at ₹ 22,374 lakhs (growth of 11.2% q-o-q ; 17.6% y-o-y)

·         EBITDA stood at ₹ 5,883 lakhs, 26.3% of Total Income (decline of 1.4 % q-o-q ; growth of 129.5% y-o-y)

·         PAT at ₹ 3,605 lakhs (decline of 14.5 % q-o-q; growth of 580.2% y-o-y)

·         Free cash flows of ₹ 5,853 lakhs for the quarter

Year ended March 31, 2021

·         Operating Revenues stood at $104.6 million (growth of 6.3% y-o-y)

·         Total Income stood at ₹ 79,765 lakhs (growth of 11.7% y-o-y)

·         EBITDA stood at ₹ 21,573 lakhs, 27.0% of Total Income (growth of 90.7% y-o-y)

·         PAT at ₹ 16,246 lakhs (growth of 126.6% y-o-y)

·         EPS(diluted) for the year is ₹ 11.45 (growth of 113.6% y-o-y)

·         Free cash flows of ₹ 21,476 lakhs

·         RoCE & RoE for the year stood at 31.2% and 29.8% respectively

Our Business:

Joseph Anantharaju, Exec. Vice Chairman, Happiest Minds Technologies said, “We continue to see good demand for digital skills across verticals, with good growth in EduTech, Industrial & Manufacturing and Retail. All our geos have demonstrated impressive growth, especially Middle East and Europe. We are truly among India's best companies to work, as reflected in our high Glassdoor rating of 4.3 and low attrition levels of 12.4%”.

Clients:

·         173 as of March 31, 2021

·         23 additions during the quarter

Our People - Happiest Minds:

·         3,228 Happiest Minds as of March 31, 2021 (net addition for the quarter 343; for the year 562);

·         Trailing 12 months attrition of 12.4%

·         Utilization of 82.6%, up from 81.6% in Q3 FY21

Key Project Wins:

·         For a large US financial services company, Happiest Minds was chosen as a partner for implementing a cloud-based loan and leasing solution

·         For a leading US based Credit Union Services Organization, Happiest Minds was chosen to transform the legacy HR performance Solution

·         For a leading US manufacturer of electrical wiring and lighting control systems, Happiest Minds is building the next generation system to control, configure, and monitor their commercial lighting systems

·         For a large US professional services company, Happiest Minds is providing onsite and offshore IT Security services for Identity and Access Management

·         For a large Health care company in USA, Happiest Minds is providing managed security services for Governance risk and compliance and security operations

·         For one of the largest and most successful estate agency groups in the UK, Happiest Minds has been selected to deliver multi-year Managed Vulnerability and Penetration Testing Services

·         For a large UK based Utilities company, Happiest Minds has been selected to deliver a critical Cloud Transformation project

·         For a large bank in UAE, Happiest Minds is providing high end security services in the space of DevSecOps and Big Data Security.

Awards:

·         Recognized with Peoplefirst’s Leading Practices in Talent Acquisition Award

·         Preeti Menon, Senior Vice President, Product Engineering Services was recognized among the Top 25 Women Leaders in IT Managed Services of 2021 by IT Services Report

Announcements:

·         The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of 150% (₹ 3 per equity share of par value ₹ 2 each) for the financial year ended March 31, 2021 which is subject to the approval of shareholders at the Annual General Meeting

For further details please refer to the Investors presentation hosted on the company website –

– Investors section

About Happiest Minds Technologies:

Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (NSE: HAPPSTMNDS), a Mindful IT Company, enables digital transformation for enterprises and technology providers by delivering seamless customer experiences, business efficiency and actionable insights. We do this by leveraging a spectrum of disruptive technologies such as: artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, digital process automation, internet of things, robotics/drones, security, virtual/augmented reality, etc. Positioned as ‘Born Digital . Born Agile’, our capabilities span digital solutions, infrastructure, product engineering and security. We deliver these services across industry sectors such as automotive, BFSI, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, eduTech, engineering R&D, hi-tech, manufacturing, retail and travel/transportation/hospitality.

A Great Place to Work-Certified™ company, Happiest Minds is headquartered in Bangalore, India with operations in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and Middle East.

Max Bupa Launches ‘Senior First’ Plan To Make Healthcare More Accessible For Senior Citizens In The Country

 ·    ReAssure benefit:Triggered by the first claim, this benefit has unlimited sum insured. Customers can claim unlimited number of times under this benefit. Any one claim can be upto the base sum insured.

·     No Sub-Limitsapplicable: No capping for treatment of common health conditions like cataract, joint replacements and more.

·     No sum insured and age-based pre-policy medical check-up: Pre-issuance medical check-up is not mandatory.Seniors can take this policy without having to undergo any sum insured and age-based pre-policy medical check-up.

·     Annual Health Check-ups from day 1: No linkage to claim or renewal. Customers can claim for health check up from the first day of policy itself.

·     Safeguard Add On: 100% coverage for non-payable expenses such as PPE Kit, Gloves, Oxygen masks, Conveyance charges and more. Inflation adjusted increase in base sum assured every year, with no impact on No Claims Bonus if claims in a policy year are up to INR 50,000.

·      All Day Care Treatments Covered: Coverage for expenses incurred during Day Care Treatments requiring more than 2 hours of hospitalization, including angiography, dialysis, radiotherapy and more.

·     Reduce co-payment or swap it with deductible options: An optional benefit to reduce co-payment from 50% to 40%/30%/20%. Alternatively, customers can opt fordeductible and enjoy a co-payment free health cover.

·     Easy to understand: Policy terms and conditions written in simple, plain manner without much jargons.

Max Bupa – one of India’s leading standalone health insurers, today announced the launch of ‘Senior First’–a tailor-made planfor senior citizens, designed to provide unconditional support and care to seniors in their golden years. Senior First plan includes coverage options of up to 25 lacs with no sub limits on common health conditionslike cataract, knee replacement, etc. To help customers overcome the current challenges faced while purchasing health insurance for senior citizens and to provide them ease of policy issuance, the Senior First plancomes with several attractive features including no mandatory pre-issuance medical tests, heath check-ups from day 1, hassle free claims process and more.

One of the highlight feature of Senior First product is the ReAssure benefitwhichis triggered with the first claim itself and is an unlimited sum insured benefit. Any one claim paid from this benefit can be up to the base sum insured. One can make as many claims as required in the same policy year, for same or different illnesses.In a nutshell, this feature will enable senior citizens to never fall short of coverage which is critical to protect against unforeseen medical expenditure towards all kinds of diseases, including Covid-19. Even in case of critical illnesses like kidney failure, dialysis or cancer, when patients often need hospitalization multiple times in the same year.Unlimited coverage in the product will prove to be extremely useful.

Commenting on the launch of Senior First, Mr. Krishnan Ramachandran, MD and CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, said,“Our product has been designed to address the current gaps in providing quality healthcare services to senior citizens. Currently, senior citizens face several challenges while purchasing health insurance. This includes undue hassles of going through mandatory medical tests, policy denial due to chronic pre-existing conditions, high premium, inadequate coverage, high co-pay options, amongst others.

Senior First plan has been carefully designed keeping in view the financial security needed for seniors amidst growing medical inflation. We realize that people want to be financially secured in these difficult times, hence a truly cashless product will ensure there is no financial burden on them once they opt for this policy.’’

Senior First is a truly cashless product and with Safeguard benefit offers 100% coverage for otherwise non-payable expenses such as PPE Kit, Gloves, Oxygen masks, Conveyance charges and more.The product also covers expenses incurred during allday Care Treatments, requiring more than 2 hours of hospitalization, including angiography, dialysis, and radiotherapy. Senior First plan also includes No Claim Bonusbenefit to reward customers for staying healthy. Additionally, policy buyers can also choose their own co-payment as per their financial health and can swap co-payments for deductible.

Dr. Bhabatosh Mishra, Director – Products, Underwriting & Claims, Max Bupa Health Insuranceon the launch said,“Seniors are one of the most impacted sections of the country when it comes to health. Unfortunately, the need is highest for this age grouphowever affordability is atits lowest. At that age,when continuous income has stopped, many tend to compromise on their health, given the high premium and other related challenges. The Senior First plan will enable senior citizens to get comprehensive coverage which is critical to protect against unforeseen medical expenditure towards all kind of illnesses, including Covid-19. It’s also a great way children can protect their parents against unforeseen health challenges’’

Max Bupa’s Senior First plan is available in Gold and Platinum range, with sum insured ranging from INR 5 lakhsup to INR 25 lakhs.

Cybercrime Thrives During Pandemic: Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report

* Increase in phishing and ransomware attacks - along with continued high numbers of Web Application Attacks - underscore a year of unprecedented security challenges

What you need to know:

●  Report analyzes 29,207 quality incidents, of which 5,258 were confirmed breaches

●  Phishing attacks increased by 11 percent, while attacks using ransomware rose by 6 percent

●  85 percent of breaches involved a human element, while over 80 percent of breaches were discovered by external parties

●  Breach simulations found the median financial impact of a breach is $21,659, with 95 percent of incidents falling between $826 and $653,587

The Verizon Business 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (2021 DBIR) examines more breaches than ever before, and sheds light on how the most common forms of cyber-attacks affected the international security landscape during the global pandemic. This year’s report saw 5,258 breaches from 83 contributors across the globe, a third more breaches analyzed than last year.

With an unprecedented number of people working remotely, phishing and ransomware attacks increased by 11 percent and 6 percent respectively, with instances of Misrepresentation increasing by 15 times compared to last year. Additionally, breach data showed that 61 percent of breaches involved credential data (95 percent of organizations suffering credential stuffing attacks had between 637 and 3.3 billion malicious login attempts through the year).

The report also highlighted the challenges facing businesses as they move more of their business functions to the cloud - with attacks on web applications representing 39% of all breaches.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on many of the security challenges organizations are currently facing,” said Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business. “As the number of companies switching business-critical functions to the cloud increases, the potential threat to their operations may become more pronounced, as malicious actors look to exploit human vulnerabilities and leverage an increased dependency on digital infrastructures”.

This year, the Incident Classification Patterns the DBIR report team uses to classify security threats have also been improved and refreshed. The updated report patterns explain 95.8 percent of analyzed breaches and 99.7 percent of analyzed incidents over all time, and should provide customers with a better understanding of the threats that exist, and how their organizations can best avoid them. 

Industries under the spotlight

The 2021 DBIR includes detailed analysis of 12 industries, and shows that, while security remains a challenge across the board, there are significant differences across verticals. For example, in Financial and Insurance industries, 83 percent of data compromised in breaches was personal data, whilst in Professional, Scientific and Technical services only 49 percent was personal. Further highlights include:

Financial and Insurance – Misdelivery represented 55 percent of Financial sector errors. The Financial sector frequently faces credential and Ransomware attacks from External actors.

Healthcare - Basic human error continues to beset this industry as it has for the past several years. The most common Error continues to be Misdelivery (36 percent), whether electronic or of paper documents.

Public Administration - By far the biggest threat in this industry is the social engineer. Actors who can craft a credible phishing email are absconding with Credentials data at an alarming rate in this sector.

Retail Trade - The Retail industry continues to be a target for Financially motivated criminals looking to cash in on the combination of Payment cards and Personal information this sector is known for. Social tactics include Pretexting and Phishing, with the former commonly resulting in fraudulent money transfers.

Regional trends

The 83 contributors involved with the 2021 DBIR have provided the report with specific insights into regional cyber-trends highlighting key similarities and differences between them.

Asia Pacific (APAC) - Many of breaches that took place in APAC were caused by Financially motivated attackers Phishing employees for creds, and then using those stolen creds to gain access to mail accounts and web application servers.

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) - EMEA continues to be beset by Basic Web Application Attacks, System Intrusion, and Social Engineering.

Northern America (NA) – NA is often the target of Financially motivated actors searching for money or easily monetizable data. Social Engineering, Hacking and Malware continue to be the favored tools utilized by actors in this region.

Alex Pinto, Lead Author of the DBIR, comments, “When you read the contents of the report, it is tempting to think that a vast array of threats demands a sweeping and revolutionary solution. However, the reality is far more straightforward. The truth is that, whilst organizations should prepare to deal with exceptional circumstances, the foundation of their defences should be built on strong fundamentals - addressing and mitigating the threats most pertinent to them.”

About the DBIR

The 2021 DBIR - its 14th edition - analyzed 29,207 security incidents, of which 5,258 were confirmed breaches (a significant increase on the 3,950 breaches analyzed in last year’s report. Data collected from 83 contributors, with victims spanning 88 countries; 12 industries, and 3 world regions.

The complete 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report as well as Executive Summary is available on the DBIR resource page.

Join us - virtual event: Cybercrime and the pandemic - May 13 at 8amET

Join our virtual fireside chat with Nasrin Rezai (Chief Information Security Officer, Verizon), Sampath Sowmyanarayan (Chief Revenue Officer, Verizon) and Chris Novak (Director Professional Services, Verizon) as they discuss the security challenges heightened by the pandemic and the cybercrime trends that will continue to shape business security.