Philippines is 8th most vulnerable to malware in Asia Pacific
Microsoft Asia Pacific has released regional findings from their global Security Intelligence Report (SIR), Volume 22, which found that emerging markets such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam are among the top five most exposed countries in Asia Pacific to malicious programs.
The Philippines reported a malware encounter rate of 19.2% as of March 2017, the eighth highest in the AsiaPacific region. This was gathered from telemetry data from computers whose administrators or users choose to opt in to provide data to Microsoft. Microsoft learns about the most prevalent threats on both global and per country bases, and use this to proactively enhance its security products and services to address those threats.
The country has an above-average exposure to drive-by download sites (websites that host one or more exploits that target vulnerabilities in web browser and browser add-ons), with the Philippines at 0.05 to 0.1 per 1,000 URLs). It also has ransomware encounter rates (0.08%-0.12%).
Microsoft’s bi-annual Security Intelligence Report (SIR) provides in-depth data and insights into the global threat landscape, particularly in software vulnerabilities, exploits, malware and web-based attacks. In this latest version, the report tracked endpoint[1] as well as cloud threat data and profiles more than 100 individual markets. It also shares best practices and solutions that can help organizations better protect, detect and respond to threats.
“As the intelligent cloud becomes pervasive in the digital transformation age, we are empowered by technology to pursue endless opportunities with greater impact,” said Antony Cook, Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Asia Pacific, Japan & Australia. “We will not, however, be able to remain safe and reach our full potential in this ever-connected world, without also understanding the cybersecurity threat environment and building our awareness around the growth in cybercrime.”
Ransomware is one of the most infamous malware families in 2017. In the first half of this year, two waves of ransomware attacks, WannaCrypt and Petya, exploited vulnerabilities in outdated Windows operating systems worldwide and disabled thousands of devices by illegitimately restricting access to data through encryption. This not only disrupted individuals’ daily lives but also crippled many enterprises’ operations.