SMEs urged to step up cybersecurity measures

MANILA, Philippines — Even small and medium enterprises (SMEs) must step up their cybersecurity measures to protect their information technology (IT) systems from threat actors, an official of Kaspersky said.

Victor Chu, head of systems engineering for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky, said in a briefing last week that all businesses, especially SMEs, must be educated about the potential digital attacks they may deal with.

“Cybersecurity awareness is very essential to understand,” he stressed.

He noted that attack surfaces or entry points that can be exploited by hackers have been widening as enterprises shift to digital platforms for operations and accomplishing transactions with customers.

Having just a single firewall or layer of protection against digital threats is no longer enough, he stressed.

“That type of mindset (having just a single firewall) is wrong. We have to educate them,” Chu said, raising the need for a system that not only detects cyber attacks but also prevents hackers from infiltrating the network.

Attacks on PH businesses surged

The number of web-based attacks aimed at Philippine businesses surged by over threefold to 1.69 million last year, according to the monitoring of Kaspersky.

Southeast Asia, in total, dealt with over 13 million cyber attacks last year—about the same amount it fended off in 2022. Kaspersky tracked most of the digital threats in Indonesia with nearly 5 million attacks, followed by Vietnam with approximately 2 million.

Over 36,000 online attacks were deployed daily last year in the region, Kaspersky noted.

Web attacks come in different forms, including the typical phishing emails embedded with suspicious web addresses linking to fake websites. The goal of cyber attackers is to illegally obtain sensitive and personal data they can use to take over one’s bank, e-wallet, and other accounts.

Perpetrators have remained active because of financial motivation. With a successful account takeover, they can siphon off money and transfer it to their own accounts.

“The trends observed in the Philippines reflect a concerning escalation in cyber threats targeting local business,” said Lai Leng Chow, head of enterprise for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.