TIME.CO, Jakarta – Kaspersky revealed that the solution blocked a total of 44,022 attacks malware towards employees of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia in the first half of 2023. The number of attacks increased by 364% compared to 9,482 attacks in the same period in 2022.
Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager Southeast Asia at Kaspersky, said MSMEs are the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economy. These businesses account for nearly half of the region’s GDP, account for 85% of employment, and account for nearly 99% of businesses in Southeast Asia.
“To meet changing customer needs, it is important for this industry to embrace digitalisation, even if it has largely ignored the cybersecurity aspect,” he said.
Attack data by country in the first half of 2022 and 2023: Indonesia (6,534 and 11,969), Malaysia (498 and 2,184), Philippines (434 and 1,847), Singapore (112 and 453), Thailand (664 and 2,375), Vietnam ( 1,240 and 25,194) and the total in Southeast Asia (9,482 and 44,022).
The most common types of cyber threats faced by the SME sector:
– Exploits
The biggest threat to MSMEs in the first six months of 2023 is exploits. Malicious and/or unwanted software often infiltrates victims’ computers via exploits, which are malicious programs designed to exploit software vulnerabilities. They can execute other malware on the system, elevate the attacker’s privileges, cause the victim’s application to crash, and so on. They are often able to penetrate the victim’s computer without any action on the user’s part.
– Trojan
The second biggest threat is Trojans. The name is inspired by a mythical horse that helped the Greeks infiltrate and defeat Troy. This type of threat is the most famous of all. As its name suggests, it enters into the system in disguise and then starts its malicious activities. Depending on its purpose, a Trojan can perform various actions, such as deleting, blocking, modifying or copying data, disrupting the functioning of a computer or computer network, and so on.
Announcement
– Backdoors
The third most common threat is backdoors. This is one of the most dangerous types of malware because once they penetrate the victim’s device, they immediately give remote control to cyber criminals. They can install, launch and run programs without your consent or knowledge. Once installed, backdoors can be instructed to send, receive, execute, and delete files, retrieve sensitive data from a computer, log activity, and more.
– It’s not a virus
Potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that may be accidentally installed on your device are labeled as “non-viruses” by Kaspersky solutions. Although these threats fall into the broader category and can be used by cyber criminals to cause damage, they are essentially harmless. Despite this, their behavior is annoying, sometimes even dangerous, and antiviruses warn users because, despite being legal, they often sneak into devices without users knowing.
Cyber criminals attempt to deliver this and other unwanted malware and software to employee devices using any means necessary, such as vulnerability exploits, phishing emails, and fake text messages. Even something completely unrelated to business, like a YouTube link, can be used to target MSMEs, as their employees often use the same devices for work and personal matters.
An often used method to hack into employees’ smartphones is using the “smishing” method (a combination of SMS and phishing). Victims receive a link via SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat or other messaging applications. If the user clicks the link, malicious code is loaded into the system.
Always update latest information. Listen latest news and news selected by Tempo.co on the Telegram channel “Tempo.co Update”. Click https://t.me/tempodotcoupdate join. You have to-to install First the Telegram application.
Quoted From Many Source
