Cyberattacks Drive Data Protection Spending at 64% of Indian Firms: Synology Survey

 

Mumbai: Nearly 64% of Indian organizations have purchased new data protection solutions following a security incident, the highest proportion among the markets covered in Synology's 2026 Enterprise Survey. The findings highlight growing concerns over cyber threats and the preparedness of businesses to protect critical data as Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption and digital transformation accelerate.

The survey, conducted by research firm Foundry among 308 IT decision-makers across India, Australia and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), found that although 99% of respondents expressed confidence in their organizations’ ability to withstand disruptions, several operational gaps continues to affect their cyber resilience.

These include fragmented data protection systems, inconsistent backup schedules and inadequate recovery testing, indicating that confidence in security measures does not necessarily translate into actual preparedness.

India recorded a higher proportion of incident-driven data protection purchases than Australia (49%) and MEA (48%). Infrastructure upgrades were another major investment driver in India, cited by 46% of respondents, while 32% identified cost reduction as a factor.

Interestingly, only 29% of Indian organizations cited regulatory requirements as a reason for purchasing new data protection solutions. The findings come ahead of the implementation of key provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, including personal data breach notification and reasonable security safeguards, scheduled to take effect in May 2027.

Andrew Huang, Regional Sales Head at Synology, said organizations need to move beyond simply deploying backup solutions and ensure that their data is consistently protected and recovery capabilities are regularly validated.

The survey also identified significant gaps in backup practices. Only 43% of organizations use real-time or continuous data protection, while 57% depend on daily, weekly or monthly backups. Such intervals can increase the potential for data loss during unexpected disruptions.

Recovery preparedness is another area of concern. About 20% of organizations validate their ability to recover data only occasionally, while 6% lack a coordinated recovery approach or continue to respond reactively.

The management of multiple independent protection tools is also increasing the workload of IT teams. Organizations spend an average of 15 hours every week managing data protection across different platforms. Around 5% spend 40 hours or more, equivalent to a full-time employee’s working hours.

Despite these challenges, investment in data protection is expected to increase by approximately 14-15% over the next two years. Nearly 69% of organizations anticipate spending increases of at least 10%. However, while 31% are prioritising AI-driven automation, only 12% are focusing on modernizing backup systems.

To address these challenges, Synology is expanding its enterprise data protection portfolio through Active Protect appliances, offering centralized management, immutable protection and automated isolation. The company has also updated Active Protect Manager 2.0 with support for Nutanix AHV and Proxmox VE platforms and introduced the DP5200, a compact 1U appliance for enterprise workloads without recurring subscription fees.

Jia-Yu Liu, Executive Vice President, Data Protection Group at Synology, said businesses need integrated platforms combining hardware, software and backup management with advanced security capabilities.

The findings underline the need for businesses to shift from reactive spending towards a comprehensive cyber resilience strategy built around continuous data protection, tested recovery systems and business continuity.