According to the latest data from global cyber security company, Kaspersky, nearly 43 million local threats targeted organisations in South East Asia last year. To be exact, Kaspersky stated that its business solutions blocked 42,700,000 local infections from January to December 2023.
Statistics on local infections of user computers are an important indicator of the overall cyber threat landscape. They include objects that penetrated the target computer through infecting files or removable media or initially made their way onto the computer in non-open form (for example, programmes in complex installers, encrypted files, etc.).
These statistics are produced by Kaspersky security solution’s scans of files on the hard drive when they were created or accessed, as well as the results of scanning removable storage media.
Even though global threats were on the rise over the past year (individual and business segments combined), all South East Asian countries registered an insignificant decline in the number of local threats detected and blocked on corporate devices with Kaspersky business solutions, except Singapore.
Singapore logged a 67 per cent year-on-year increase, from 300,000 local incidents in 2022 to 500,000 last year.
Overall, businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand experienced the highest number of this threat in 2023.
| Country | Number of Local Threats |
| Vietnam | 17,100,000 |
| Indonesia | 16,400,000 |
| Thailand | 4,700,000 |
| Malaysia | 2,500,000 |
| Philippines | 1,500,000 |
| Singapore | 500,000 |
| Total: | 42,700,000 |
Local threats in South East Asia in 2023
“South East Asia shows a solid potential to become a major manufacturing hub globally. The region is also consistent in charting steady digital economic growth through the years. To be able to continue these feats, organisations, whether operating on IT or OT systems, should build their cyber defences against sophisticated attacks that use the same old techniques and tactics,” comments Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.
Protection against local attacks requires a security solution capable of treating infected objects and a firewall, anti-rootkit functionality and control over removable devices.
By scanning systems with robust security solutions, organisations can prevent the spread of malware through files or removable media. Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business allows organisations to scan removable drives that are connected to your computer for malware.
Through the Kaspersky Unified Monitoring and Analysis Platform (KUMA), Kaspersky also offers an integrated software solution that includes a set of functions for event monitoring and management.
A unified console for monitoring and analysing information security incidents, KUMA can be used as a log management system and a full-fledged SIEM system.
Source: Kaspersky
