Image credit: New Straits Times
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is the second-highest Southeast Asian country that has seen a surge in web threats targeting businesses in 2022, with a 197% increase year-on-year (y-o-y), according to the latest data from Kaspersky.
Kaspersky stated that Singapore logged the highest y-o-y jump of cyber attacks on businesses last year. It recorded more than a three-fold spike (329%) after its business solutions blocked a total of 889,093 web attacks, a whopping increase from 2021’s total of 207,175 incidents.
The uptick was also observed across other Southeast Asian countries – Thailand (63%), Indonesia (46%), and the Philippines (29%).
Only Vietnam witnessed a slight dip (-12%) after recording only 2.49 million incidents last year as compared to 2021’s 2.82 million.
2022 appears to be a busy year for cybercriminals targeting companies in Southeast Asia (SEA), the company said. The cybersecurity company’s latest data showed a 45% jump in web threats blocked by its business solutions last year.
Web-based threats, or online threats, refers to attempts to download malicious objects from a malicious/infected website. Malicious websites are deliberately created by malicious users; infected sites include those with user-contributed content (such as forums), as well as compromised legitimate resources.
Web threats are made possible by end-user vulnerabilities, web service developers/operators, or web services themselves. Regardless of intent or cause, the consequences of a web threat may damage both individuals and organisations.
During the peak of the pandemic in 2020, Kaspersky prevented 10.20 million web attacks from infecting businesses in Southeast Asia. The number dipped slightly in 2021 at 9.18 million and spiked yet again in 2022 at 13.38 million.
Kaspersky Southeast Asia general manager Yeo Siang Tiong (pic) said that last year was a period of reopening for most businesses in Southeast Asia and, unfortunately, so as for cybercriminals.
“The Vietnam government has continuously pushed to beef up the cybersecurity defenses of the nation and the country’s local companies and it is encouraging to see that the efforts are translating into concrete results. The greater Southeast Asia region, however, needs more help in building their capabilities to protect their companies against cyberattacks.
“As 2023 will be the first year of fully re-opened borders and markets, we encourage companies here to allocate budget and resources to strengthen their defenses against the increasing attacks against their networks. While the IT security talent gap remains an issue, outsourcing experts and comprehensive solutions offer efficiencies that can fill in this missing piece,” added Yeo.
Source: https://www.thesundaily.my/business/malaysia-sees-197-increase-in-web-threats-targeting-businesses-in-2022-according-to-kaspersky-data-DI10905475