The Philippines ranked 33rd out of 233 countries prone to cybersecurity threats in third quarter of 2015, up 10 notches from its placing in the second quarter, an Internet security company reported.
Kaspersky Security Network’s Q3 Threat Evolution report said the country experienced a rapid rise in malware infections for July, August, and September this year.
The report also said 17 percent of Filipino Internet users are “infected” by malicious programs, two percent higher than the data posted in the second quarter.
“From 43rd place to 33rd place in just three months, this shows that cyberattacks against the Philippines are accelerating at full speed. The Philippines may not be one of the top targets yet, but there is no doubt that cybercriminals are now noticing the country,” said Jimmy Fong, Channel Sales Director of Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia, in a statement.
In a global scale, Kaspersky said mobile threats and attempted theft in online banking are also increasing.
“The developments in Q3 demonstrate that the global threat landscape is continuing to evolve at a fast pace. Malicious mobile programs are on the rise and in countries where online banking is popular, people are at considerable risk from Trojans looking to target them,” said David Emm, principal senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis team.
“With 5.6 million cases of attempted theft from online bank accounts, and cybercriminals continually developing sophisticated attacks, the use of high quality cybersecurity products has never been more important. It’s vital that all those using the Internet – both individuals and organizations – protect themselves from these growing threats,” he added.
The report added that a total of the 235.45 million malicious attacks from online resources have been located in the world, 75.4 million unique URLs were recognized as “malicious” by web antivirus components, and 5.69 million registered notifications about attempted malware infections aiming to steal money from bank accounts accessed online.
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