The world produced a staggering 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022, marking an 82% increase since 2010.This figure is projected to grow by another 32% to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030. (Source: UNITAR). The numbers are staggering. While efforts are on to prevent and manage e-waste, we must embrace more sustainable ways to address the e-waste problem, which is reportedly the fastest growing solid waste stream in the world. 

This World Environment Day, we feature a homegrown Indian company that’s pioneering environment-friendly, sustainable practices in the telecom technology  – a field with a high e-waste footprint. In fact, this company’s commitment to eco-friendly practices sets them apart in the industry. 

The greener the better

Chennai-based Telekonnectors, a leading brand that offers communication headsets, analog phones, copper cable testers, and Air-Traffic Control solutions, has a few decades-old story in ‘green telecom’ and sustainable product lifecycle. 

Karthik Krishna Murthy, Managing Director & CEO of Telekonnectors says, “Employee turnover and hence disposal of personal use telecom products amongst our customers is as high at 45% every year. One can imagine the amount of e-waste that gets generated. If we are to treat our plant with respect, we ought to manage and recycle the amount of waste that gets generated.”

The company’s TLK Buyback program is just one of the many ways in which the company works toward this goal. The program ensures recycling and safe disposal of plastics, cables, and other e-waste, in addition to encouraging clients by incentivizing them. “Our buyback program ensures that we collect all headsets including those of other brands to dispose of them safely,” Karthik highlights. 

And there’s more! The company’s ‘green’ philosophy reflects across the entire product lifecycle. “All companies including our customers have a responsibility to sign up to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have taken this responsibility seriously. Right from product engineering, design, design for manufacturing and customer servicing, we are enforcing a culture of environmental friendliness. So we are pushing through a behavioral change within our employees and an appreciation of the same with our customers,” elaborates Karthik. 

End-to-end sustainability

Hence, the aspect of sustainability is not an after-thought for Telekonnectors, but something the company consciously incorporates right at the design stage of the products. Karthik maintains that they focus on picking more sustainable materials for production and packaging to ensure minimal environmental impact, both during its lifespan and after its usability has ended. 

Similarly, its manufacturing processes are centered around efficiency and waste reduction while the distribution mechanisms are optimized for minimal environmental impact. 

Karthik believes that a product’s sustainability journey does not end there. Factors like high durability and energy efficiency are equally critical. “Typically headsets need to be replaced within 12 months, but we promise our customers a product life of anything between 24-36 months,” he adds. 

Their dedication to sustainability extends beyond environmental practices. Telekonnectors is one of the few companies to champion gender inclusivity across all levels, including its factory floors. “More than 40% of our Manufacturing, R&D and Quality teams are staffed by women. Our production floor has nearly more than 1 woman for 2 employees. We find women being more sincere, committed, delivering less manufacturing faults, and abstaining less from work,” sums up Karthik. 

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Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 recently released the Ransomware Retrospective 2024: Unit 42 Leak Site Analysis and Incident Response report 2024. As part of the Ransomware Retrospective, they studied 3,998 leak site posts from various ransomware groups. Leak sites are platforms where threat actors publicly disclose stolen data as a means of coercing victims into paying ransom.

Key findings from this investigation: Unit 42 saw a 49% YoY increase in multi-extortion ransomware attacks from 2022 – 2023 globally. In India, the manufacturing sector has been the most targeted industry for ransomware extortion in 2023. Of the 3,998 leak site posts from 2023 globally, LockBit ransomware remains the most active, with 928 organizations accounting for 23% of the total. LockBit is also the most active group in APAC and India (note: this was before the recent law enforcement disruption of LockBit). At least 25 new ransomware leak sites were observed in 2023; of which Akira led the way. 

Anil Valluri, MD and VP, India and SAARC, Palo Alto Networks, said, “In India, the Manufacturing sector has emerged as the primary target for ransomware attacks over the past year. This unsettling trend underscores the critical vulnerabilities within the Indian manufacturing sector, where limited visibility into operational technology (OT) systems, inadequate network monitoring, and suboptimal cyber-hygiene implementation have left organizations exposed. Organizations must implement enterprise-wide Zero Trust network architecture to create layers of security that limit an attacker from successfully moving laterally around the network.”

The 3,998 posts from ransomware leak sites represented a 49% increase compared to 2022, where 2,679 posts were observed globally. This increase can be attributed to zero-day exploits targeting vulnerabilities for MOVEit Transfer SQL Injection and GoAnywhere MFT, among others.

As further evidence, when reviewing the number of compromises reported by ransomware leak sites, sporadic spikes were observed (see figure below). These loosely aligned with periods where ransomware groups began exploiting specific vulnerabilities.

Unit 42 2024 Incident Response Report: Speed of Exfiltration + Vulnerabilities Driving Activity

Unit 42 analyzed more than 600 incidents from 250 organizations for the 2024 Unit 42 Incident Response Report. This investigation went beyond ransomware leaksite posts into the overall casework volume. While phishing has historically been a popular tactic with attackers, the report found that it is declining, but only sort of.

From a one-third share of initial access incidents in 2022, phishing has dropped to just 17% in 2023. This indicates a potential de-prioritization of phishing as cybercriminals adapt to more technologically advanced – and perhaps more efficient – infiltration methods. More advanced threat actors are moving away from traditional and interactive phishing campaigns to less noticeable and possibly automated methods of exploiting system weaknesses and pre-existing credential leaks. Other key findings from the report include:

●      More-Sophisticated Threat Actors Are Gaining Initial Access Differently: There has been a discernible rise in the exploitation of software and API vulnerabilities. Exploiting such vulnerabilities accounted for 38.60% of the initial access points in 2023, up from 28.20% in 2022.

• Threat Actors Grab Data Indiscriminately: In 93% of incidents, threat actors took data indiscriminately rather than searching for specific data. This is up from 2022, when 81% of cases involved non-targeted data theft. In 2021, it was even lower at 67%. The surge points to a growing trend among cybercriminals who seem to be casting a wider net, gathering any data they can access rather than expending effort to locate and extract particular datasets.
• Extortion tactics to maximize yields: Interestingly, while the rate of harassment and other extortion tactics w.r.t. Ransomware has remained steady over the past few years, the rate of harassment in cases where payments were made has jumped by 27x since 2021.
• Higher demands, lower payouts: In 2023, median ransom demands increased from $650,000 to $695,000 (3%↑) but median payouts decreased from $350,000 to $237,500 (32%↓). This can be potentially attributed to organizations calling-in Incident Response teams with negotiation capabilities (which fewer did in the past).

Huzefa Motiwala, Director, Systems Engineering, India and SAARC, said “While the surge in ransomware incidents is concerning, there are glimmers of hope amidst the challenges. The data reveals a promising shift in organizations’ response strategies, with a notable increase in median ransom demands countered by a decrease in median payouts. Since organizations are more willing to call-in Incident Response teams, threat actors are happy to take the path of least resistance. Which, in most scenarios, is to grab what they can get, and move on.”

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