Cyber attacks in APAC continue to keep going up

Cyber attacks in APAC has increased significantly in the month from April to May, with malware types that showed the largest increase being ransomware and Remote Access Trojan (RAT).

In a research conducted by Check Point Research (CPR), the top 5 countries to have seen the largest increase in cyber attacks are Japan (40%), Singapore (30%), Indonesia (25%), Malaysia (22%) and Taiwan (17%).

Image courtesy of Check Point Research

Figure 1: Percentage difference in number of cyberattacks in May compared to previous months in 2021 by country

Contributing to the rise of cyber attacks is the increase in work from home initiatives being imposed by various authorities in APAC resulting in more security gaps available for attackers to leverage, said CPR in a press release.

Moreover, the popularity of APAC as a target for attackers could result in the snowball effect. The more successful attacks there are in the region, said CPR, the more other attackers would want to follow suit – especially since they have a higher chance of succeeding.