Even as businesses capitalize on the latest security intelligence and protections to stay ahead in the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Malaysia continues to be an attractive region for cybercriminals. Microsoft recently unveiled the Malaysia findings from the 24th edition of its Security Intelligence Report (SIR), an annual study aimed to improve cyber resilience in the region.
The SIRv24 comprises of core insights and key trends derived by sifting through data between January to December 2018 from multiple, diverse sources, including 6.5 trillion threat signals that go through the Microsoft cloud every day. The report includes an overview on the lessons learned from the field and recommended best practices. Here are some of the highlights of the report in regard to Malaysia:
Cryptocurrency Mining Malware Becomes Increasingly Prevalent in Malaysia
With the rise in value of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, cybercriminals seeking illicit profits have turned to malware that lets them use victims’ computers to mine cryptocurrency coins. This approach allows them to
leverage the processing power of hundreds of thousands of computers. Even when a minor infection is discovered, the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency complicates efforts to track down the responsible
parties. It also turns out that the cryptocurrency mining malware encounter rate in Malaysia was nearly 33 percent higher than the global average. Yikes.
Cybercriminals Continue to Deliver Malicious Code through Drive-by Download Pages
Although drive-by download encounters globally has decreased by 22 percent, Malaysia experienced
a whopping 544 percent more drive-by download attacks than the rest of the world. The highest concentration of drive-by download pages were in Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia in the entire Asia Pacific region. What exactly is a drive-by download you ask? A drive-by download is an unintentional download of malicious code to an unsuspecting user’s computer when they visit a website. The malicious code could be used to exploit vulnerabilities in web browsers, browser add-ons, applications, and the operating system.
“As the digital world progresses, it also continues to make us more vulnerable to more sophisticated cyber threats. The findings of this study show that we continue to be exposed to threats like ransomware and cryptocurrency mining. As cyber security specialists, we have been stepping up efforts to spread awareness on the importance of cyber security and creating strong safeguard for our cyberspace so that Malaysian businesses and the economy at large can operate seamlessly.”
Dato’ Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Bin Abdul Wahab, Chief Executive Officer of CyberSecurity Malaysia
To learn more about the latest cyberthreat trends as well as the best practices that organizations can adopt, download the full report here.
As a first step, Microsoft helps diagnose an organization’s cybersecurity position and identify gaps through its cybersecurity health-check assessment in 10-minutes.
