{"id":62837,"date":"2024-04-22T17:19:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=62837"},"modified":"2024-04-22T17:19:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:19:57","slug":"kaspersky-blocks-nearly-300k-ransomware-attacks-against-organizations-in-apac-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2024\/04\/22\/kaspersky-blocks-nearly-300k-ransomware-attacks-against-organizations-in-apac-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaspersky blocks nearly\u00a0300K ransomware attacks against organizations in APAC last year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A total of 287,413 ransomware incidents were detected by Kaspersky cybersecurity solutions for businesses in Southeast Asia (SEA) from January to December 2023.<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Experts from the global cybersecurity company insist on organizations, regardless of shape and size, to beef up their IT security posture as ransomware, especially the targeted type, continues to be a damaging menace for organizations in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe era of widespread mass attacks by encryptors on both individuals and businesses is gradually fading away. Instead, we are witnessing a shift towards organised groups that execute hacks involving data theft and encryption, commonly referred to as double extortion. The rationale behind this evolution lies in the perpetrators&#8217; ability to operate with greater efficiency, thereby enabling them to demand significantly higher ransom sums,\u201d says Fedor Sinitsyn, Lead Malware Analyst at Kaspersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ransomware targeting businesses in SEA last year was highest in Thailand with 109,315 incidents blocked by Kaspersky. Indonesia trails closely with 97,226 ransomware attacks and Vietnam with 59,837. The Philippines came fourth with 15,312 malicious encryptors, followed by Malaysia with 4,982, and Singapore with 741.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year, ransomware became a constant subject of news headlines across SEA. High-profile incidents involve a\u00a0bank in Indonesia,\u00a0a public health insurer in the Philippines,\u00a0a public train transportation system in Malaysia,\u00a0a famous hotel and casino in Singapore,\u00a0the largest media conglomerate in Thailand, and\u00a0an energy company in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s evident that the threat actors behind ransomware attacks target all sectors in Southeast Asia. The total number of attempts may be lower, but organisations need to realise the real impact of each successful ransomware infection, both on the financial and reputation fronts. It\u2019s imperative for businesses here to look into\u00a0cybersecurity technologies that provide absolute anti-ransomware effectiveness in third-party exams. Because not all cybersecurity solutions are created equal,\u201d Yeo Siang Tiong, GM for SEAsia of emerging economies at Kaspersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, Kaspersky Small Office Security and Kaspersky Standard\u00a0demonstrated complete protection against ransomware\u00a0in 10 different real-life attack scenarios during regular Advanced Threat Protection assessments held by AV-TEST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To combat ransomware and assist those affected, Kaspersky, alongside Europol, the Dutch National Police, and others has the\u00a0No More Ransom\u00a0initiative, launched in 2016. On the official website, participants provide decryption tools, guidelines, and instructions to report cybercrimes, irrespective of the location of the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the end of 2023, Kaspersky marked the seventh anniversary as a key contributor to the No More Ransom initiative. This period witnessed expanded access to Kaspersky\u2019s free decryption tools, in line with its commitment to combating ransomware. These tools, targeting 39 ransomware families, have been integral in assisting nearly 2 million victims globally, as reported by Europol, underscoring the profound impact of the No More Ransom initiative supported by Kaspersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To protect yourself and your business from ransomware attacks, consider following the rules proposed by Kaspersky experts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00b7Do not expose remote desktop\/management services (such as RDP, MSSQL, etc.) to public networks unless absolutely necessary and always use strong passwords, two-factor authentication and firewall rules for them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Promptly install available patches for commercial VPN solutions providing access for remote employees and acting as gateways in your network.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Always keep software updated on all the devices you use to prevent ransomware from exploiting vulnerabilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Focus your defense strategy on detecting lateral movements and data exfiltration to the Internet. Pay special attention to the outgoing traffic to detect cybercriminals&#8217; connections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Back up data regularly with special attention to offline backup strategies. Make sure you can quickly access it in an emergency when needed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Avoid downloading and installing pirated software or software from unknown sources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0Assess and audit your supply chain and managed services\u2019 access to your environment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Prepare an action plan for reputational risk of your data exposure in the unfortunate event of data theft.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7Use solutions like\u00a0Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response Expert\u00a0and\u00a0Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response\u00a0service which help to identify and stop the attack on early stages, before attackers reach their final goals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7To protect the corporate environment, educate your employees. Dedicated training courses can help, such as the ones provided in the\u00a0Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0Use the latest\u00a0Threat Intelligence\u00a0information to stay aware of actual TTPs used by threat actors. The Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal is a single point of access for Kaspersky\u2019s TI, providing cyberattack data and insights gathered by our team for over 26 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experts from the global cybersecurity company insist on organizations, regardless of shape and size, to beef up their IT security posture as ransomware, especially the targeted type, continues to be a damaging menace for organizations in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":54024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[286,101,54,2103],"class_list":["post-62837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-it-security","tag-kaspersky","tag-security","tag-security-breach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}