PH among least cybersecure in Asia, says study

The Philippines is one of the least cybersecure countries in Asia, based on the presence of phishing sites and malware hosting platforms and average number of accidental downloads of computer virus and other malicious codes, according to a study by an online marketing firm.

Reboot Digital PR Services said in its study, which was derived from analysis of cybersecurity statistics, that the Philippines registered a cyber danger score of 62.7 out of 100, making it the ninth least secure in the region. Globally, the Philippines was at 19th place.

Cyprus, Indonesia and Malaysia had the highest cyber danger scores at 82.8, 82.8 and 79.9, respectively. Meanwhile, Finland was the most cybersecure with 12.6 points.

The study, which is based on data from 2018 to 2022, showed that the Philippines has an average of 200 phishing sites and 880 malware hosting sites per 100,000 URLs (uniform resource locators). By comparison, Finland has only 390 malware hosting sites per 100,000 URLs although it has slightly more phishing sites than the Philippines at 280.

Phishing is a fraudulent activity wherein scammers trick users into giving out their personal and sensitive information usually in the form of suspicious emails, mobile messages and links. Having access to such data will allow scammers to take over or use without permission the victims’ bank accounts.

Malware, which is short for “malicious software,” is a computer program developed to “infect” a device, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

The study also noted that the Philippines has an average monthly drive-by download pages of 19 per 100,000 URLs.