Philippines climbs in global list of cyberhacking targets

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines needs to be “cyber-resilient” as it is becoming a favorite target of the world’s hackers, multinational cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs said.

In its global ranking of the most attacked countries based on the yearly Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) survey, the Philippines climbed from the 30th spot to fourth place in just five years.

Data from the KSN also showed that web threat attempts against Filipino users of Kaspersky software grew by 432.75 percent from about 9.5 million in 2017 to 50.5 million in 2021.

Amid these grim numbers, Kaspersky Labs said the Philippines needs to take a more active stance in prioritizing cybersecurity.

A critical move toward achieving cyber-resiliency would potentially support the growth of local businesses, foster current digital opportunities, and mitigate dangerous risks to the country’s economy, it said.

While mobile malware attacks may have dropped sharply in the Philippines from 2019 to 2021, Kaspersky pointed out that there are indications that Trojans are injected into third-party ad modules and new Trojans are being discovered – proof that cybercriminals have become more creative and sophisticated in their approach.

As far as the local government is concerned, legal policies and regulatory frameworks on cybersecurity have already been laid out and are currently in place. Kaspersky executives urge the state to collaborate with its neighbors and private companies to further build its cyber-resiliency.

“Looking at the Philippines’ unique cybersecurity landscape and how it is dealing with cyberattacks, it appears that the country is now in the intermediate stage of cybersecurity readiness. Intermediate-level countries are those that have identified cyberattacks as areas they need to look into and have attempted to make some inroads. The goal is to have the country move to the advanced stage where we hope to see it doing more in terms of development,” said Genie Gan, head of public affairs and government relations for Asia Pacific and Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Kaspersky.

The Kaspersky report also advised that countries like the Philippines continually promote skills training and enhanced collaboration to support incident response capabilities and ensure the safety and wellbeing of their citizens.

“Cyberthreats are here to stay as it is parallel with the digitalization drive in the Philippines. A recent study even projected a P50-trillion digital economy in 2030, a huge opportunity that will be realized best if digitalization efforts are built upon trusted and transparent cybersecurity foundations,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

“Organizations, industries, and governments will always be lucrative targets for cybercriminals but through collaborative multi-stakeholder efforts, we can explore strategies and expand our cybersecurity implementation as we enhance our confidence and trust in technology. When a country achieves cyber-resiliency, the digital future no longer becomes a scary unknown realm but a place with endless opportunities for growth,” Yeo said.