Nearly 50% of Filipinos battled web threats in 2022

MANILA, Philippines  – Enterprises are advised to step up their cybersecurity measures as efforts to build their business may be “pointless” if systems become compromised, Kasperksy said, noting that the Philippines ranked second in terms of having the most digital threats detected across the globe in the past year.

The Kaspersky Security Network report revealed that 49.8 percent of Filipino users had been targeted by web threats in 2022. Topping the global ranking as well were Mongolia (51.1 percent), Ukraine (49.6 percent), Greece (49.5 percent) and Belarus (49.1 percent).

Kasperksy noted that the majority of the cyber attacks blocked by the cybersecurity firm in devices of Filipino customers were worms and file viruses.

A computer worm is a type of malicious software (malware) that replicates itself in order to spread through a network. File virus, meanwhile, is also a malware that infects program files, such as applications.

“I would always insist for any business that’s new, or qualifies as a small and medium enterprise, to have basic protection from the get-go,” said Chris Connell, managing director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.

“As you expand, spending on the business and security should be in lockstep. It’s pointless to build a business that is not protected because once you’re compromised, it is costly to repair the damage,” he added.

Kaspersky also warned against cybercriminals infiltrating network systems via web browsers in the form of drive-by downloads and social engineering.

PH cybercrime vulnerability among highest, says cybersecurity firm

Drive-by download attack happens when users visit a website and accidentally download malicious code while social engineering attack refers to tricking potential victims into downloading malware that appears to be legitimate software.

“In the Philippines, businesses continue to flourish despite the challenges. We have seen how adversity, such as the pandemic, hastened the digital transformation among local businesses and customers alike,” Connell said.

“As the country moves toward sustaining its recovery, I hope Filipino businesses will be as aggressive in protecting their devices and their data as cybercriminals are persistent in preying on them,” he said.

Recently, Yeo Siang Tiong, Kaspersky general manager for Southeast Asia, told the Inquirer they have observed that cyberhackers’ schemes have been evolving based on the kind of ransomwares being deployed.

Last year, Kaspersky detected over 304,000 ransomware attacks targeting businesses in the region. About 21,000 of these were in the Philippines.

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