Asia Pacific Suffers the Most Ransomware Attacks Globally, Trend Micro Report Reveals

Trend Micro, a leading global cybersecurity firm, has released its annual report, Rethinking Tactics: 2022 Annual Cybersecurity Report, and a new study, What Decision Makers Need to Know About Ransomware Risk, which reveal that Asia Pacific (APAC) suffered the highest number of ransomware attacks globally in 2022. The report also shows that the region is among the top victimized areas by ransomware groups Conti and LockBit.

According to the report, Asia Pacific accounted for 38.06% of all ransomware threats in 2022, with the ransom payment rate standing at 18.9%, higher than the global average. The report also highlights that organizations that pay the ransom, which is just 10%, are fueling the ransomware industry, leading to more attacks on other organizations.

Nilesh Jain, Vice President of Southeast Asia & India at Trend Micro, warns that paying off a ransom might seem like a quick way to mitigate risk in the short term, but in the long run, it only fuels the ransomware industry leading to more damage.

Apart from ransomware, the report also highlights other security issues that continue to plague the APAC region. Trend Micro blocked over 14 billion threats in Asia in 2022, inclusive of email threats, business email compromise, URL-related threats, and over 2 billion other threats, including botnet-related threats and malware.

Trend Micro recommends that organizations adopt a platform-based approach to managing the cyber-attack surface, mitigate security skills shortages and coverage gaps, and minimize the costs associated with point solutions. The approach should include asset management, cloud security, proper security protocols, and attack surface visibility.

The report advises organizations to prioritize updating software as soon as possible to minimize the exploitation of vulnerabilities and to monitor disparate technologies and networks within the organization, as well as any security system that protects them.