Surge in cyber-attacks worries Thailand: Weekly numbers surpass global average

A recent report by Check Point Research has highlighted an alarming surge in cyber-attacks on organisations in Thailand over the past six months. The average attack incidents were notably higher than the global norm and even edged past figures from the rest of Southeast Asia. Every week, organisations in Thailand fell prey to an average of 2,388 cyber-attacks, which slightly surpassed Southeast Asia’s rate of 2,375 breaches.

Insightfully, a vast 72% of malicious files in Thailand took the email route over the past month. Remote code execution emerged as the prevalent vulnerability hack in Thailand, impacting a substantial 61% of organisations. High on the malicious intent list were banking Trojan (Zeus), Cryptominer (XMRig), and Info-stealer (Qbot).

Accentuating the gravity of the situation globally, the report reveals that the average number of attacks per organisation per week reached an alarming 1,258, marking the highest in over two years. The second quarter of this year observed an 8% increase in the global average weekly attacks comparably to the same time frame the previous year.

Check Point Research analysis suggests a post-conflict return to cyber normality in the wake of reduced disruptive impact from the Russia-Ukrainian conflict. However, this new normal is heightened by amplified cyber-attacks, owing to innovative evasive tactics, frequent hacktivism-induced attacks, and a ceaseless stream of ransomware targeting multiple organisations, reported Bangkok Post.

Though the immediate burden of the Russia-Ukrainian conflict has lifted off the cyber threat landscape, these persistent threats underline the continual requirement for enhanced vigilance and robust cybersecurity architectures. This is to combat the ceaseless and ever-evolving cyber-attack landscape.

Concurrently, Check Point Research recently unfolded a China-based advanced persistent threat targeting government entities through hidden malware embedded in seemingly legitimate applications. This yields a fresh iteration of Chinese espionage delivered through USB devices alongside malignant firmware implants detected on Internet routers.

The second quarter of this year saw the global education/research sector bear the brunt of attacks, averaging 2,179 weekly incidents per organisation, noting a slight 6% dip from last year. The government/military sector followed closely with 1,772 attacks per week, showing a 9% spike from the same period a year ago. The healthcare sector trails with 1,744 attacks per week, marking a substantial year-on-year rise of 30%.

Regionally, in The second quarter of this year, Africa recorded the highest average of weekly cyber-attacks per organisation, with 2,164 attacks, marking a sharp 23% year-on-year increase from last year. The Asia-Pacific region also saw a significant rise of 22% in the weekly attack average per organisation, escalating to 2,046 attacks.

In the same quarter, one out of every 44 organisations worldwide was struck by a ransomware attack, indicating a year-on-year dip of 9%. However, the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions recorded significant increases in ransomware attacks per organisation, with jumps of 29% and 21% respectively. North America trails behind with a 15% year-on-year increase.