Trend Micro offers warnings and solutions on rising cyber-attacks

Country Director of Trend Micro Ian Felipe elaborates on the growing threat of cyber attacks to organizations. Image INQUIRER.net

Trend Micro has reported an increase in online threats against online banking credentials of users in the Philippines. The company noted that the country now accounts for 8 percent of online banking malware detections across its client base worldwide.

The company tracks and protects 48 of the world’s top 50 corporations, counting over 500,000 commercial customers. Based on the data of its Smart Protection Network, Trend Micro has observed that the Philippines is now the third-most affected country by online banking fraud.

Paul Oliveria, technical communications manager of Trend Micro, also notes that Filipino individual users and organisations are equally at risk to other forms of cybersecurity attacks. Cybercriminals have found stealthier and more sophisticated ways to penetrate organizations as well as retrieve confidential information, while still utilizing tried and tested methods.

Trend Micro Country Director Ian Felipe states, “Cyber attacks will not simply go away. Organisations need to rethink their security strategies because threats will continue to evolve in sophistication and aggressiveness.”

In the Philippine banking and finance industry, social engineering is still an effective means to deliver malware. Social engineering is defined in cybersecurity as an elaborate con to gain confidential information such as passwords and IDs. Malicious software, also known as malware, breaks down computer systems.

Trend Micro advises banks and other organizations to make sure that security measures and controls are in place that will enable them to detect, analyze, as well as defend their networks and ultimately their data from cyber-attacks. Such measures include investing in multi-layered solutions and technologies. Banking customers must be more vigilant in making transactions online, and practice safe computing habits at all times. Enterprises should also develop a culture of consciousness in cyber security.

The latest Global Cybersecurity Index, a UN initiative to measure a country’s capacity to handle cybersecurity issues, ranks the Philippines 9th among 39 Asia-Pacific nations in cyber-attack preparedness. Alfred Bayle