H1 2022: Kaspersky detects over 1.6M financial-related phishing in SEA

Users of payment systems, e-shops, and online banks are major financial-related targets for phishers. During first half of 2022, Kaspersky data shows 1,604,248 finance-related phishing attacks were detected and blocked in Southeast Asia (SEA).

The above data are from anonymized data based on the triggering of the deterministic component in the Kaspersky’s Anti-Phishing system on user computers. The component detects all pages with phishing content that the user has tried to open by following a link in an e-mail message or on the web, as long as links to these pages are present in the Kaspersky database.

The highest share of detections were related to payment systems (840,254), followed by e-commerce shops (621,640), and online banks (142,354).

Phishing attacks related to payment systems logged the highest share for all countries in the region, except Thailand and Indonesia’s where the highest finance-related attempts were related to e-commerce.

In Vietnam, the global cybersecurity company has detected and prevented 56,392 bank-related phishing attacks in Vietnam, followed by Malaysia (27,458), Indonesia (20,603), Thailand (13,899), Philippines (13,200), and Singapore (10,802).

“The first half of the year witnessed the reopening of borders in Southeast Asia but the pandemic habits seem to remain consistent. Despite our regained physical freedom, we know that we still prefer to do our banking, shopping, and financial activities online because of its unparalleled convenience,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

“Regulators and industry players in the region are all backing a digital-forward Southeast Asia. In fact, countries here are poised to link their QR code payment systems before the year ends to remove currency exchange hassles. It is a welcome development with possible great economic gains, for us and the cybercriminals. With most users here aware of the threats targeting our online money, it is time to act now and secure your mobile devices to enjoy the perks of a more connected, regional financial environment,” adds Yeo.

To ensure safety of accounts and personal information from phishing campaigns, security experts at Kaspersky recommend users, organizations and businesses to take the following measures:

- Always keep a keen eye on suspicious emails. If it looks too good to be true, check, double-check, and triple-check.

- Maintain two email addresses if you are using free accounts. One is for official use and the other is for websites that require you to log in to read the news or gather information.

- Not all smartphones are secure so be careful of messages that will lead you to a website. There are a number of malicious software that can gain entry into your contacts list and financial apps.

- Use a reliable security solution with anti-phishing and secure payment capabilities like Kaspersky Total Security.

- Still, the best defense to phishing is being informed and discerning of the emails and other messages users receive. There is no harm in being too cautious especially most of the financial transactions are now done online in pursuit of digitalization.