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Employees hastily placed on remote work setup kept most of Southeast Asia’s businesses afloat when pandemic hit in 2020. Unfortunately, it was also remote work that caused some headache for companies that were struck with RDP attacks, which are not even going away soon, according to Kaspersky. Data from the cybersecurity company showed remote desktop protocol (RDP) attack attempts among Kaspersky users in Southeast Asia increased by 149% from 2019 to 2021. The RDP attacks recorded in the region was only 65,651,924 in 2019 but ballooned to 214,054,408 in 2020 when most of the region’s workforce were forced to temporarily leave their offices to work from their homes full-time. In 2021 when employees were given the flexibility to work back on-site and remotely, RPD attacks attempts in SEA declined on an average of 20% compared to 2020 but the numbers are still higher than in 2019. RDP attack attempts in Singapore even grew by 6.85% in 2021 compared to 2020. But what exactly is RDP? RDP or...

If money motivates cybercriminals to trick, swindle and steal, then why are they targeting job-seekers who are supposedly income-less and are themselves in need of money? Job scams have been around for a long time. But it’s getting extra attention lately as Malaysians report receiving way more job invitations through text messages than ever before. These unsolicited job offers promise unbelievably generous earnings in exchange for seemingly easy work that is too tempting to not even try. Official statistics reveal that as of First Quarter 2022, there are 671.2 thousand unemployed Malaysians. According to a poll by a local university, about 66% of Malaysians are now keen on hybrid working environment due to pandemic concerns such as health and safety. For scammers, this is a goldmine they just wouldn’t miss taking advantage of. Personal information such as name, birthday, phone number, email address are already valuable — it can actually cost up to $10 on the dark web, according to Ka...

According to the recent Kaspersky survey conducted among senior non-IT management and business owners, 73% of firms can’t handle a ransomware attack alone or with the help of regular IT service providers. To offer in-house cybersecurity teams and InfoSec professionals an opportunity to expand their analytical skills in the incident response domain, Kaspersky has designed a new Windows Incident Response training course. Over recent years the lack of skilled technical staff who can detect and respond to complex incidents, along with a lack of visibility across infrastructure and consistent management, have been the biggest challenges for businesses in dealing with complicated cyber threats. The recent global study by Kaspersky titled “How do business executives perceive ransomware threat?” [1] confirms that most firms (73%) will have to seek the help of external incident response providers’ in the event of a ransomware attack. This is despite the fact that 66% of respondents consider ...

New data from Kaspersky shows that Malaysian children are big consumer of video content. As of 1 March, this year, YouTube app on Android top the chart with 35.65%. WhatsApp ranked the second with 16.21%, followed by TikTok with 12.32%. Video content remains Malaysian children favorite, as per the data shows for the top three Android apps frequently used by them, with YT Kids, a special app for children, at 6.08%. Kaspersky reviewed anonymized data, such as search queries, the most popular Android applications, and website categories and provided voluntarily by Kaspersky Safe Kids users, to explore the most popular children’s interests between January-March 2022. This data can help parents to better understand their children's favorite subjects and passions. “As one of the world’s most active digital citizens, it is no surprise that the Malaysian children are enthusiastic explorers of the digital world themselves. Although, having not gone back physically to school since the pandem...

Study reveals senior citizens’ worries about online transactions and their trust in antivirus software compared with the younger generation Digital payment has emerged to be the leading choice for many consumers in Southeast Asia (SEA) when it comes to conducting their online financial transactions. A recent Kaspersky research showed that digital considerations about cybersecurity and payments factor heavily into a consumer’s purchasing behavior in the region. Titled “Mapping a secure path for the future of digital payments in APAC” , the study discovered that one in five (21%) of digital payment service users in SEA still experience anxiety when performing online transactions. Among other ages, worry is highest with the oldest group, the Silent Generation (30%). Interestingly, the “seniors” are followed by the youngest generation at 27%. Almost one in five (17%) users in SEA admitted that they would rather pay with cash, wherein the oldest generation again logged the highest percent (...

A VPN is a versatile tool that many see as an assistant to protect personal data while carrying out everyday tasks online. However, in addition to well-known standard task such as surfing the internet, there are several other uses for a VPN. VPNs hide the location of users and change their IP address to the country where the server is placed. Sites are then under the impression that the user is physically located in the selected country, allowing them to use the internet as if they were a resident of that region. A Research and Markets Survey on VPNs estimates that the VPN market was worth $35.4 Billion in 2020. This increase in the popularity of VPNs is not only due to the growth in home working brought about by the pandemic, but also down to a rise in digital awareness over the last few years, leading users to want more transparency about how and where their data is stored. With these factors in mind, researchers predict that the VPN market will be worth $107.6 Billion by 2027. As ...

Lee takes over from Chris Connell as Kaspersky’s APAC leader. Kaspersky is proud to announce the appointment of Sandra Lee as Managing Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Sandra and her team will drive the company’s strategy and overall growth in the region. Sandra Lee “APAC has always been a focus market for the company and I am excited to take up this leadership role as we continue to see great business opportunities here. With our strong regional team and solid partner ecosystem, I am looking forward to helping our customers and partners benefit even more from our award-winning solutions and threat intelligence expertise across the region,” says Sandra. Sandra will be based in Kaspersky’s APAC headquarters in Singapore. She will report to Chris Connell, Vice President for Global Sales Network, who was previously also in the role of Managing Director for APAC. “I am thrilled and excited to see Sandra in this APAC leadership role! Her business acumen, commitment to customer s...

In 2022, we will observe state-sponsored groups targeting the cryptocurrency industry, while cybercriminals will take advantage of investors by fabricating rogue wallet with backdoors included. On top of that, we are likely to witness the growth of attacks against payment systems and more advanced mobile threats. These are the key predictions from Kaspersky’s ‘ Cyberthreats to Financial Organizations in 2022 ’ report. 2021 was a year of challenge and novelty and there always are those who adapt and manage change to their advantage quickly – cybercriminals. Since most of them are motivated by money, financial threats have always been one of the most significant parts of the threat landscape. Pondering on the significant events and trends that shaped the financial threats’ sector in 2021, Kaspersky researchers have forecasted several important tendencies expected to occur in 2022. Here are their key predictions: Targeted cryptocurrency attacks will grow . As cryptocurrency is a digital a...

A new global survey , commissioned by Kaspersky, explores the role of healthy digital habits in the family, as well as the effect of parents’ behavior on children and vice versa A new study by Kaspersky has shown a direct correlation between how much time parents and their children spend on devices. With 82% of adults and 70% of little ones spending at least three hours on gadgets every day, the data shows that kids are likely to copy the amount of time their parents spend using devices. Children are always observing and copying what their parents do – this is also the case when it comes to their digital habits. If kids can see that their parents are constantly using their devices, they will consider such behavior the norm and spend a lot of time online. Although sometimes it can be hard to be a role model, parents should be conscious of their actions on their children’s behavior and attempt to lead by example when it comes to rules around screen time. The study results demonstrate ...

A nationwide study by Universiti Malaya shows that over three quarters of Malaysian students, who have been away from classrooms for almost 35 weeks, are eager for physical classes to resume this months. The Ministry of Education announced that schools are reopening in stages for states under phase 3 and 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP). This means majority of the schools may only open on rotational basis , with classes split into two groups attending on alternate weeks. The ministry explained students will take turns to attend school, with attendance set at 50 percent of the classroom capacity to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. During the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) period, Kaspersky has detected 28.9 million different internet-borne cyberthreats in the period of April till June 2021 in Malaysia. Two methods widely used by cybercriminals for web threats include exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers and their plugins and the infamous tactic of social engin...

People worldwide are turning to virtual, 'parasocial' relationships with influencers to cope with the effects of the pandemic One-sided relationships, also known as ‘parasocial relationships’, are blossoming worldwide and in Southeast Asia (SEA) amid social distancing and continuing national Covid-19 lockdowns. A global study of more than 15,000 people in 25 countries from security firm Kaspersky* finds that just under half (47%) of social media users believe the influencers they follow provide them with ‘an escape from reality’. The numbers are relatively higher in SEA, the region first hit by the pandemic beyond China back in 2020. For instance, more than three in five (61%) of the Southeast Asian respondents admitted that influencers help them to forget and to escape their realities. Globally, a tad over one in five (21%) believes they ‘could be friends’ with influencers they follow, with SEA data two digits higher than the global average at 31%. In addition, 22% of the glo...

The 3rd Online Policy Forum presented by Kaspersky zeroes in on the region’s cyber resources, expertise gap amidst rapid digitalisation What are the real needs and goals of Asia Pacific (APAC) countries in cyber capacity building, education, and awareness? Whose role is it to play in ensuring these goals are met – it is necessarily the State to bear this burden? These are the burning questions addressed during Kaspersky’s APAC Online Policy Forum III with the theme “Greater Cyber-resilience through Cyber Capacity Building”. The virtual forum was joined by a high-level panel of speakers from the region including: Mr. Craig Jones , INTERPOL Cybercrime Director Professor Li Yuxiao , Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies; and Secretary General of the Cyber Security Association of China Professor Seungjoo Kim , Professor of the School of Cybersecurity of Korea University; Head of the Department of Cyber Defense of Korea University; and Member of the Presidential Commit...

Global cybersecurity company underlines mobile threat is now a concern for enterprises and employees alike amidst the continuing remote work As the pandemic continues to grip countries in Southeast Asia (SEA), more workers are expected to set-up their remote office environment, if not continue to work virtually. This trend keeps the population safer physically, but also open vulnerabilities against enterprises. Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has detected and blocked 382,578 mobile attacks against users in SEA during the first half of 2021. This is a 14% increase compared with the same period last year with 336,680 incidents. The mobile attacks detected and blocked covers the general Kaspersky users from the region. Even though the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been a trend before the pandemic, its use have increased exponentially since 2020 as companies adapted their IT infrastructure for business continuity. This, in turn, increased employee’s role in a company’s network...

Being in the IT industry for the last 28 years, I had the chance to observe the many advancements and upheavals in the field – advancements in technology, changes in standards and protocols, mergers and acquisitions, layoffs and re-organisations. But I have never seen Southeast Asia (SEA) transforming at a breakneck speed until this pandemic. This transition boils down to one segment – digital. In fact, the region has reached more than the forecasted 310 million online consumers for 2025 in 2020, five years in advance. Thanks to the 40 million first-time internet users last year from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. As a result, there is now an urgent need for businesses to reconsider their infrastructure, their business model, and their ways of doing transactions. The stakes are higher for firms to wade through this digital wave, with this global crisis in the background. So today, I want to share five key areas decision makers should consider...

21% of employees confirmed that they have pretended their devices were installing updates so they would not have to attend a call or meeting. This excuse is plausible because software updates can disrupt workdays, with one-third (35%) of employees saying they have been late to a call because of updates. These are the findings of a recent study commissioned by Kaspersky to explore workers’ attitudes and habits toward updates. Frequent meetings are often seen as one of the most unpleasant things in the office routine. The transition to remote work and virtual meetings hasn’t helped the issue, as people experienced fatigue from video calls and felt more tired at the end of the working day. As the recent Kaspersky research shows, some employees found an excuse to skip some of their calls – they pretended that their work devices were unavailable due to updates. Their colleagues may believe the deception, as they could relate to the experience of needing to update a device themselves. In ...