Kaspersky PH users hit by web attacks nearly every second in 2023

Philippine users of cybersecurity firm Kaspersky were hit by web threats nearly every second last year as hackers’ schemes became increasingly complex, data released by the company on Tuesday showed.

According to Kaspersky, its detection systems blocked 26,164,698 web attacks in the Philippines in 2023, equivalent to 72,000 per day, or 0.8 attacks per second.

Yeo Siang Tiong, Kaspersky general manager for Southeast Asia, said attacks were expected to increase this year, but noted that the number of incidents may not be the best indicator as schemes are getting more complex.

“What we have observed over the last years, it has grown and sort of tapered down, but what we also observed is the quality of attacks has gone up, so it’s come to a point that we ask ourselves, are the numbers a good indicator?” he said in a briefing in Makati City.

“Probably at this juncture we are more inclined to observe it more from a quality and quantity perspective. The short answer is yes, we expect it to be more punchy,” he added.

Tiong said that when he first joined the company in February 2018, it was recording 298,000 unique malicious files collected per day, which has since gone up to 411,000. Its research group is also now monitoring over 900 advance persistent threat (APT) groups, from over 200 previously.

In terms of local infection attempts or attacks which can be done through drives that are plugged into devices, Kaspersky said there were 62,000 per day in the Philippines in 2023.

The firm said 36.80% of its users in the Philippines were attacked by local threats in the past year, with the country ranking third in Southeast Asia behind Vietnam with 53.30%, and Indonesia with 41.10%.

Victor Chu, Kaspersky head of systems engineering for Southeast Asia, said that, “Threat actors increasingly use diverse tactics to launch sophisticated targeted attacks.”

“Therefore, it is essential to use a platform that can provide a centralized view of security events in quickly identifying and responding to potential threats,” Chu added.

The firm reported its Philippine cybersecurity data findings during the launch of its Kaspersky Unified Monitoring and Analysis (KUMA) Platform for monitoring and analyzing information security incidents.

Last February, cybersecurity company Surfshark reported that the Philippines placed 30th among 163 countries with the most accounts that were breached in 2023.

Based on Surfshark’s data, the Philippines had 705,470 breached accounts in 2023, which is lower compared to the 1,369,604 record in 2022.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had earlier approved the National Cybersecurity Plan for 2024–2028 to provide the country with operational guidelines when it comes to building its cybersecurity posture. — VDV, GMA Integrated News