Philippines 10th most attacked online in Q3 — report

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is the 10th most attacked country worldwide in terms of online infections in the third quarter, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

For the July to September period, Kaspersky Lab said it has monitored more than eight million web threats against Filipino internet users.

“While the latest threat statistics in the Philippines are relatively lower than last quarter at 10.6 million, eight million is still alarmingly a huge leap from last year’s numbers. In fact, we discovered just nearly two million online threats during the third quarter of 2017,” Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia general manager Yeo Siang Tiong said.

“In the same period last year, the Philippines ranked only 35th most attacked worldwide in terms of web threats. The young and globally known internet savvy Filipinos are fast becoming a prime target for the money hungry cybercriminals. It’s high time that they get their defenses up,” Tiong said.

Data from the Kaspersky Security Network showed that over three-in-10 or 33.3 percent of users in the Philippines were attacked by Internet-borne threats from the three-month period. 

Globally, the top five most attacked countries during the third quarter were Algeria (45 percent), Venezuela (40.7 percent), Belarus (40.5 percent), Albania (39 percent), and Moldova (37.9 percent).

Kaspersky Lab said web-based threats or online threats are malware programs that can target someone while using the internet. These browser-based threats include a range of malicious software programs that are designed to infect victims’ computers.

Web threats include drive-by download that refers to the unintentional download of malicious code to one’s computer or mobile device leaving it open to a cyberattack.

A drive-by download can take advantage of an app, operating system, or web browser that contains security flaws due to unsuccessful updates or lack of updates. This infection can also be done through social engineering which involves tricking the human mind to download a legitimate-looking but infected program on a computer.

Kaspersky said internet-borne malware have been used to steal money and confidential data as well as to serve as launch pads for bigger attacks against large companies worldwide.

“These types of attacks can be avoided with a lot of common sense and vigilance. The lack of cyber-hygiene habits plays a very significant role in cybercriminals’ success. Filipinos need to be cautious with the sites they visit, files they share, apps they download, and the information they divulge online through social media platforms. Add-on a solution that holistically detects and blocks malware, and you will surely give these cybercriminals a hard time stealing your data and your money,” Yeo said.