The surge in cyber-attacks, particularly in Thailand, has resurfaced an alarming concern for the global community, as reported by Check Point Research. In recent months, Thailand has experienced an above-normal rate in cyber incidents, contravening not only the global average but also surpassing Southeast Asia’s numbers. On a weekly basis, approximately 2,388 cyber-attacks scathed the organizations in Thailand, menacingly topping the Southeast Asian average of 2,375 incursions.
Unsurprisingly, a substantial majority, 72% precisely, of these malign concoctions are disseminated through emails. Remote code execution was revealed as the most frequently exploited vulnerability among Thai organisations, affecting about 61% of them. Malefic entities notably prevalent were banking trojans like Zeus, cryptominers like XMRig, and info-stealers like Qbot.
Highlighting the increased gravity of cyber threat situation globally, the findings unveil that an organisation is attacked on an average 1,258 times a week, a chilling record highest in over two years. The trend of these attacks considerably increased by 8% in the second quarter of the current year, compared to the same period last year.
Analyzing the current cyber scenario, the study anticipates a post-strife return to some form of cyber normality in the aftermath of the reduced reverberations of the Russia-Ukrainian unrest. Despite the subsiding immediate worries, the unbroken cyber threats accentuate the ever-pressing need for intensified vigilance and robust cybersecurity system, as such threats are, invariably, evolving and innovating with sophisticatedly devious strategies and rising hacktivism and ransomware attacks, as reported by the Bangkok Post.
Concurrently, another instance of advanced persistent threat (APT) from China was uncovered by the Check Point Research, which indicated a new clandestine wave of Chinese espionage. This APT represents malicious malware cleverly masked and embedded in seemingly harmless applications. Primarily, they targeted government units, manifesting through infected USB devices as well as malignant firmware implants discoverable on internet routers.
The second quarter of the current year saw the education and research sector globally bearing the heat of these incessant attacks, with an average of 2,179 weekly attacks on each organization. Even though the figure indicates a slight 6% decline compared to last year, the government and military sector followed suit with 1,772 attacks weekly, representing a worrisome 9% increase.
Region-wise, Africa tops with the highest average of weekly cyber-attacks per organization in the second quarter at 2,164 attacks, which is 23% up from the previous year. The Asia-Pacific region, too, faced a shocking 22% hike in the weekly average of cyber-attacks per organisation.
Reflecting on the incidence of ransomware attack, the study reported that one out of every 44 organisations across the globe was victimized in the same quarter. Albeit recording an annual 9% decline, areas such as Asia-Pacific and Europe experienced significant spikes in ransomware incursions with increases of 29% and 21% respectively, while North America’s increased by 15%.
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