Malaysia Ranks 38th On Internet Threat Activities, Symantec Report Says

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), May 18 (Bernama) -- A report by Symantec Corp has revealed that Malaysia ranked 38th among countries globally on internet threat activities last year. In unveiling the report on Friday, Raymond Goh, Symantec Senior Regional Director for Systems Engineering and Alliances in Asia South Region, said users should continue to take proactive initiatives to secure and manage critical information from a variety of security risks. "Top growing trends that organisations in Malaysia should watch out for in today's threat landscape include advanced targeted attacks, mobile threats, malware attacks and data breaches," he said here. Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organisations secure and manage their information-driven world. The company's Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 17, shows that while the number of vulnerabilities decreased by 20 per cent, that of malicious attacks continued to skyrocket by 81 per cent globally. Raymond said with the increasing mobile penetration in Malaysia, organisations needed to be vigilant in protecting their confidential information on these devices as cybercriminals were latching on this growing mobility trend to access sensitive corporate information. "Symantec has observed a large increase in malicious internet attacks through mobile devices, making these devices a viable platform for attackers to leverage in targeting sensitive data especially if they are used to store corporate information," he said. Nigel Tan, Symantec Principal Consultant for Asia South Region, said cybercriminals had greatly widened their reach beyond large enterprises with nearly 20 per cent of targeted attacks now directed at companies with fewer than 250 employees. "Smaller companies are now being targeted as a stepping stone to a larger organisation because they may be in the partner ecosystem and less well-defended. Targeted attacks are a risk for businesses of all sizes, no one is immune to these attacks. "Therefore, having a comprehensive security policy and keeping up with industry-standard best practices would go a long way towards ensuring that Malaysian organisations stay sate in the connected world," he said. -- BERNAMA