IANS | 01 May, 2024
About 25 per cent of cyberattacks were motivated by 'espionage' in
the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region last year, which is significantly higher
than the 6 per cent and 4 per cent in Europe and North America,
respectively, a new report showed on Wednesday.
Of the 2,130
security incidents and 523 confirmed breaches in the APAC region, system
intrusion, social engineering, and basic web application attacks
represent 95 per cent of breaches, according to Verizon Business report.
The most common types of data compromised include credentials (69 per cent), internal (37 per cent), and secrets (24 per cent).
"Since
so much of cyber espionage can be defined as an advanced persistent
threat, it’s especially important for organisations in APAC to
continuously refresh their security protocols to prevent the long-term
collection of sensitive data by hackers," said Chris Novak, Sr Director
of Cybersecurity Consulting, Verizon Business.
The report analysed 30,458 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches in 2023 -- a two-fold increase over 2022.
Last
year, 15 per cent of breaches involved a third party, including data
custodians, third-party software vulnerabilities, and other direct or
indirect supply chain issues, the report mentioned.
About 68 per
cent of breaches whether they include a third party or not, involve a
non-malicious human element, which refers to a person making an error or
falling prey to a social engineering attack, according to the report.
"India
is one of the key countries affected by phishing attacks, where
employees often click on malicious links or attachments that appear to
be from legitimate sources, often leading to severe financial losses,"
said Anshuman Sharma, Director - VTRAC, Cybersecurity Consulting
Services, Verizon Business.
"However, there's a silver lining as
reporting practices have improved, with 20 per cent of users now
identifying and reporting phishing during simulation tests," he added.
