31 million web threats YTD2018 in Malaysia according to Kaspersky Lab | Industry

Global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky Lab, is pacing around the APAC region holding roadshows that started in July and expected to end in October 2018 that would have covered 12 cities by the time it is done. The theme, Cyber Insights 2018, is aimed at fostering partnerships with customers, analysts and cybersecurity experts alike.

At its roadshow in Kuala Lumpur recently, users, analysts and cybersecurity experts gathered together to deliberate on the emerging threat landscape in APAC and discussed ways to build a solid cyber defence plan which will help them address existing security risks, detect new attacks and prevent future threats. Mr. Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager, SEA, Kaspersky Lab, explained that this year's roadshow is to shine the spotlight on the topic of ‘Building Cyber Defence and Resilience with Adaptive Security Framework'.

“We believe that organisations need to build an adaptive security framework that is scalable and flexible to meet new and complex security challenges.  Often we hear about cybersecurity trends, but seldom do we talk about the threats.  It is also worrying that most companies are unable to respond in time, but rather after the attacks have occurred,” Siang Tiong said.

During his keynote address, Mr. Vitaly Kamluk, Director of GReAT, APAC, Kaspersky Lab shared with the attendees the top cyber-threats businesses could face in the remaining second half of 2018.  Vitaly has been with Kaspersky Lab for 13 years, and had also spent two years with INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore before.

“Based on the information collected by Kaspersky Security Network, Malaysian users reported 31 million web threats since January 2018, with 36% of users detecting malware. This puts Malaysia in the 31^st position worldwide,” Vitaly shared.

He went on to relate global attack cases presumed committed by global threat actors such as Lazarus, Bluenoroff, Scarcruft, DarkHotel, VPNFilter, Roaming Mantis, Sofacy, Turla, Dropping Elephant, etc. that were trending in recent times. Even the Winter Olympics held in Seoul in Feb 2018 was not spared.

Mr. Simon Piff, Vice President of IDC Asia/Pacific's IT Security Practice Business also shared IDC's perspective on building cyber defence and resilience.  “In studies done for Kaspersky Lab, 64% of respondents were unable to define advanced persistent threats.  Alarmingly, 51.5% said they would need days or weeks or months to respond to the attacks,” Simon cautioned.