Philippines receives 4th highest count of cyber threats in 2019

Cybersecurity is a growing concern, and the Philippines happens to be one of the prime destinations for cyber threats in 2019, a Kaspersky report reveals.

Previously standing a the 11th position, the country faced a larger number of cyber threats in 2019, pushing the rank up to the 4th highest in web threats and various other types of cyber threats.

The said Kaspersky report reveals that the country received as many as 28 million cyber threats in 2019 were recorded in the country. These attacks are considered “internet-borne” regardless of the user device.

Cyber threats in 2019 trends

Yeo Tiong, the general manager (GM) Kaspersky for the SouthEast Asia region, explains that as far as the threat trends are concern Philippines followed the global pattern. Cyber threats in 2019 came mostly from cryptocurrency miners at the start of the year with a significant drop in the second two quarters.

Although Tiong explains that a drop in the crypto-ransomware was also witnessed during the year, the report recorded about one and a half million hosting attacks were recorded in 2019 compared to over two million in 2018.

Tiong believes that the decrease in number is witnessed owing to the stricter regulatory policy and the new law that allows harsher penalties on financial scammers and skimmers. These penalties include a fine of up to five million Pesos and even life imprisonment.

Cyber threats, especially cryptocurrency ransomware threats such as Sodinokibi and Ryuk, kept the globe on the toes throughout the year. Tiong also believes that despite strong regulatory efforts and better security protocols, one cannot just drop their guard down at any given moment.

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