Research from Microsoft reveals that Indonesia was hit hard by cryptojacking and ransomware attacks across the Asia Pacific region in 2019.
It has been reported that the region continues to experience a “higher-than-average” encounter rate for ransomware and other malware attacks, posting figures 1.6 and 1.7 times higher than the rest of the world.
However, Microsoft says that Indonesia had a 10.68% malware attack rate during 2019. While this does represent a 39% decrease, the figures remain two times higher than the regional average.
Indonesia is now ranked in second place in terms of encounter rate at 14% regarding ransomware attacks. This is 2.8 times higher than the average registered across other countries in the region.
It has been analyzed that cryptojacking encounter rates stood at 10% in 2019, two times higher than the regional and even global average. They had the highest encounter rate across the Asia Pacific region and ranked #4 globally.
Microsoft analysis of the Asia Pacific region shows a growing number of crypto-related attacks https://t.co/EKrYAhX3Lo — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) June 30, 2020
Haris Izmee, the President Director of Microsoft Indonesia, commented:
“While recent fluctuations in cryptocurrency value and the increased time required to generate cryptocurrency have resulted in attackers refocusing their efforts, they continue to exploit markets with low cyber awareness and low adoption of cyber hygiene practices.”
Likewise, Microsoft Intelligence Protection researchers raised concerns about the increase of COVID-19 themed attacks across every country in the world. They note that there has been at least one incident per country, with the number of successful attacks in high-outbreak countries on the rise.
Most COVID-19 related cyberattacks are delivered through malicious e-mail attachments or URLs.
Thus, hackers often impersonate global entities with key roles in the pandemic like the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Department of Health.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Bitcoinist