The Philippines was the second most-attacked country by web threats worldwide last year, according to data from global cyber security firm Kaspersky Security Network (KSN).
The 2022 global ranking based on the number of web-based cyberthreats detected and blocked by its products was topped by Mongolia with 51.1 percent of the attacks recorded, followed by the Philippines (49.8 percent), Ukraine (49.6 percent), Greece (49.5 percent) and Belarus (49.1 percent).
The Philippines moved two places up to second among countries most attacked by web threats within the period from January to December last year.
Based on the report, a single device can frequently be targeted by cyber criminals and subjected to multiple attacks.
Worms and file viruses accounted for a majority of incidents that were detected and blocked by Kaspersky products in devices of its Filipino customers. It also showed that cyber criminals tried to penetrate systems through attacks via browsers.
The favorite methods of attack are drive-by download and social engineering. For the former, a user who visits a website unintentionally downloads a malicious code. In the latter, a user downloads malware after being made to believe it is a legitimate program.
Attempts to spread local malware through removable drives dropped from 35M in 2021 to 25M last year.
KSN warned employees against connecting to unsecured WiFi networks or visiting non-work-related websites, as such actions could result in disastrous and costly damage to company data.
Protecting our data and ourselves from cyberattacks has become much more important, in this era when everything is becoming digital. The Philippines could be the second most attacked country either because of our sizable population, or the lack of cybersmarts of that population. If we can educate ourselves better so we can ward off these attacks, our country would become a less likely target for these criminals who prefer to go after easy prey.*
