Shoulder surfing emerges as India’s overlooked cyber risk as screen use soars

As India embraces digital banking, hybrid work and paperless governance, cybersecurity experts are warning of a growing threat that bypasses firewalls, passwords and phishing scams altogether: visual hacking.

Also known as “shoulder surfing”, the practice involves unauthorised viewing of sensitive information directly from another person’s screen in public spaces such as airports, cafés, trains and co-working offices. While often perceived as a low-tech risk, cybersecurity professionals say it can expose financial records, confidential emails, business documents and personal data without leaving any digital trail.