Kaspersky’s 2024 cybersecurity forecast for Asia Pacific highlights the ongoing risks of phishing, scams, and data breaches in the rapidly growing digital economy. As the region adopts advanced technologies, cyber espionage, particularly Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), remains a key concern amidst existing geopolitical tensions.
15 January 2024 – Global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky, has unveiled predictions for the cybersecurity threat landscape in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region for the year 2024. Driven by the rapid digitalization movement and geopolitical tensions, the forecast emphasizes the persistent dangers of phishing, scams, data breaches, and geopolitically-motivated cyberattacks targeting organizations and individuals across the region.
As APAC’s digital economy experiences exponential growth, fueled by technologies such as digital payments, Super Apps, IoT, smart cities, and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Kaspersky highlights the pivotal role of cybersecurity in ensuring the resilience of the region’s defenses against potential cyber threats.
Vitaly Kamluk, Head of Research Center for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky, notes that cyber espionage remains a primary objective for Asian groups, driven by existing geopolitical tensions. The forecast underscores the importance of cybersecurity as the region continues its digital transformation.
In the APAC region, Kaspersky predicts specific cybersecurity challenges for key countries:
South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia):
- Scam Scale: The region faces a significant challenge with online scams, including romance-investment scams, crypto fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. Kaspersky anticipates the scale of such scams to grow due to technical and legal illiteracy, despite law enforcement efforts.
Singapore:
- Data Breaches and Outages: Singapore witnessed major technology safety and security issues related to data breaches and outages in 2023, impacting banks and public hospitals. The forecast suggests future threats may include denial-of-service attacks, politically motivated compromises, defacements, and data leaks.
China:
- Telecom Fraud and Phishing: Telecom fraud activity is expected to decrease due to Chinese government initiatives. However, phishing attacks, especially QR code phishing attacks targeting personal credit card information, may increase.
- APT Attacks: Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) attacks on high-profile targets, including nuclear energy companies, are expected to become more active, driven by China’s geopolitical prominence.
India:
- Cryptocurrency Scam Apps: The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies may lead to a new generation of scam apps targeting Indian users.
- Micro-Loan App Schemes: Growing popularity of micro-loan apps may result in new schemes targeting users through inflated premiums and personal threats.
- IoT Vulnerabilities: India’s move towards smart cities brings IoT vulnerabilities, posing serious security challenges.
South Korea:
- General Election and Cybersecurity Threats: South Korea’s upcoming general election in 2024 is expected to attract cyber threats, with threat actors likely using sophisticated social engineering techniques.
- Customized Cyber Threats: State-sponsored threat actors are anticipated to persist in employing customized threats tailored to South Korea’s unique software landscape and IT environment.
Kaspersky advises organizations in the APAC region to prioritize cybersecurity by keeping software updated, using strong passwords, implementing multi-factor authentication, and employing proven endpoint security solutions.
In conclusion, the cybersecurity landscape in APAC for 2024 underscores the need for heightened vigilance and proactive cybersecurity measures as the region continues its digital evolution.
