Philippines Ranks No. 1 for Web-based Attacks in Southeast Asia

According to a report from Internet security firm Symantec, Philippines tops the chart for Web-based attacks in Southeast Asia, beating Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, according to the news published by GMA NEWS.TV on April 24, 2010.

Luichi Robles, Symantec Philippines country manager, commented that if the highest numbers of Web-based attacks in the Southeast Asia region are in the Philippines, it surely indicates that the country is the host to these attacks, as per the news published by GMA NEWS.TV on April 24, 2010.

On a general note, these Web-based attacks are made from the machines apart from the one the user visits through malicious ads or redirection.. For example, a Philippines-based system can be used by an attacker to redirect the user on to a particular malicious website or an advertisement.

As per the report, attackers are making use of social engineering methods to draw unsuspicious users to malicious sites. After the user land on these websites, his Web browser and susceptible plug-ins that are normally used to view document files or videos are attacked.

Moreover, Philippines possess a considerable number of bot-infected PCs. Symantec said that these bots were secretly installed on a system that facilitated hackers to distantly control one's system to execute cybercrimes like data breaches and identity theft.

Moreover, the report also revealed that overall, Philippines stood at the tenth spot for malicious operations on the Internet in the APJ (Asia-Pacific and Japan) region for the year 2009. The country accounted for 2% of malicious activities in the region.

In the context of phishing URLs, the country stood eighth in the APJ region while it ranked second in Southeast Asia after Thailand. As per the report, financial services segment was the most targeted sector as 92% of phishing URLs were spotted in Philippines that spoofed financial services industry brands.

Raymond Goh, Regional Director for Symantec South Asia, said that the reason for Philippines ranking tenth in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region pertaining to the malicious activity of this kind could be new broadband users in the country, as per the news published by The Manila Times.net on April 26, 2010.

Related article: Philippines Circulates Spam Accounting for 87% of E-mails

» SPAMfighter News - 5/6/2010