Over half of Internet users in the country had experienced being hacked or infected by malware in the second half of 2016. This is based on the recently released Kaspersky Cybersecurity Index, a bi-annual online poll conducted globally by Kaspersky Lab.
The survey had 17,337 online respondents, 491 of which were from the Philippines, while the rest came from 27 other countries.
About 52% of the Filipino respondents revealed that they were affected by hacking, malware infection, and other cybercrime incidents during the six-month period. This number is 23% higher compared to the global rate of just 29%.
Filipinos’ online behavior
Other results of the same study reveal Filipino online users’ level of awareness about Internet risks. It showed that 50% of Filipino online users remained ‘unconcerned’ or believe that they could not be targets of cybercriminals. In comparison, global average is 74%.
About 34% of Filipino netizens failed to protect their devices against cyberthreats through the help of security software or antivirus. That is lower than the global score of 39%.
Risk awareness
“Compared to the global average, more Filipinos are aware of the dangers in the internet, and more internet users from the Philippines are also safeguarding their devices with security solutions,” said Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia General Manager Sylvia Ng.
“This behavior is definitely commendable, yet, is clearly not enough,” Ng added. “Filipinos’ defenses against cyberattacks should go beyond awareness and security software, it is high time for netizens to develop a better cyber-self-defense instinct that automatically turns on when they go online.”
So what kinds of cyberthreats were encountered by the Filipino respondents during the period? Of those, 43% reported malware or virus infection, while 10% experienced hacking and data interception. About 9% of those were deceived to share sensitive or private information about their selves online, while the same percentage fell victims of ransomware.