Tag Archive for: APAC

Rise in global cyberattacks, ransomware threats surge, healthcare and APAC most affected

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According to a recent comparative study by Check Point Research, the first nine months of 2023 and 2022 have witnessed an increase in global cyberattacks. The report reveals that average weekly global cyberattacks rest 3% higher this year as compared to the prior year.

Among the numerous cybersecurity threats, ransomware remains prominent, affecting 1 in every 34 organisations, a 4% surge from 2022. North America experienced the highest increase of 25% compared to 2022. The healthcare industry, accompanied by the Asian-Pacific (APAC) region, also witnessed significant year-on-year spikes in average weekly cyberattacks.

In the health sector, approximately 1613 weekly attacks have been recorded, amounting to an 11% year-over-year increase. Besides, the APAC area also experienced robust cyber-attack attempts, marking a 15% increase YoY.

Emphasising the severity of ransomware threats, the report illustrates that one out of every 34 organisations worldwide encountered such an attack attempt, indicating a 4% surge compared to the same timeframe last year.

Over the past year in North America alone, there was a significant rise of 25% in ransomware attacks, making it the region with the highest increase. Reports show ransomware threats are growing due to several factors such as the lucrative business model it offers to cybercriminals, increasing use of sophisticated techniques, rise of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms, and weak cyber hygiene in many organisations.

In an observing note, many of the most impacted industries encompass critical infrastructure and services. The Utilities sector, which experienced a dramatic 26% increase in ransomware impact over the last year, is a prominent example.

Altogether, the figures underline the rapidly evolving and complex landscape of cyber threats on a global scale. Highlighting the importance of robust and proactive security measures, the report encourages organisations to invest further in IT resources, upgrade legacy systems, and most importantly, train their employees to identify and avoid common cyber threats.

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India amongst top three most targeted APAC countries as AI use, ransomware increases: Report  

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India is among the top three most targeted countries in the APAC region by nation-state actors as cybercriminals used AI to create new threats, increased the speed and sophistication of ransomware, and attempted password-based and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) fatigue attacks.

India began advancing cyber incident reporting requirements in the last 12 months. For Transmission Control Protocol attacks, while India was the second most targeted country last year, it has now come down to the fifth, given recent geopolitical shifts, Microsoft said in its Digital Defence Report.

While AI was also used in creating new opportunities for defence, Microsoft blocked an average of 4,000 password attacks per second targeting its cloud identities, the company shared.

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The use of AI creates new threats, opportunities

Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI as a weapon to refine phishing messages and improve influence operations with synthetic imagery. However, AI will also be crucial for successful defence, automating and augmenting aspects of cybersecurity such as threat detection, response, analysis, and prediction, the report shared.

And while threat groups have significantly accelerated the pace of their attacks over the last few years, Microsoft says its built-in protections across its products blocked tens of billions of malware threats, thwarted 237 billion brute-force password attack attempts, and mitigated 619,000 distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that aim to disable a server, service or network by overwhelming it with a flood of Internet traffic.

Increase in ransomware attacks

The report further shared that organisations saw human-operated ransomware attacks increase 195% since September 2022. These attacks were found to be “hands-on keyboard” types of attacks rather than automated ones, typically targeting a whole organisation with customised ransom demands.

Attackers were also found to have evolved attacks to minimise their footprint, with 60% using remote encryption, thereby rendering process-based remediation ineffective.

Ransomware operators were also found to increasingly…

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Mobile Threat Chains: Patterns of Attack Against APAC Banks

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How APAC organisations are hiring cyber security pros

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Organisations across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are relying on job postings, internships and even candidates from other fields to plug the cyber security talent gap, a new study has found.

Those were the key findings of the APAC cybersecurity hiring managers research report by The International Information System Security Certification Consortium, or (ISC)², which polled 787 respondents across Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

Over half of respondents (58%) in Singapore rely on standard job postings in their search for cyber security talent while just under half in the city-state have identified or recruited talent through apprenticeship and internship programmes as well as recruitment agencies.

At the regional level, companies have also diversified their recruitment practices when it comes to candidate sourcing, with hiring managers turning to existing employees from non-traditional IT departments such as customer service (43%) and human resources (38%) for entry- and junior-level staff.

“Our research findings point to the widening cyber security workforce gap, which has been driven by geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic instability, as well as growing physical security challenges,” said Clar Rosso, CEO of (ISC)².

“With APAC registering the second highest year-on-year rise in shortage globally, organisations in the region need to be creative with their cyber security hiring. However, unlike conventional thinking, adopting an innovative approach doesn’t mean that organisations have to take on more hiring risks.”

The (ISC)² report noted that adopting a more collaborative hiring approach between HR and cyber security teams, identifying candidates with relevant attributes and skills, as well as investing in their professional development can help organisations build more resilient and sustainable cyber security teams.

When it comes to skills and experience, 62% of respondents would hire a candidate self-taught in IT or cyber security despite having no work experience, with those in Singapore and Hong Kong most likely to consider such candidates.

Across the region, 64% of hiring managers ranked previous professional experience as one of the most…

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