SINGAPORE, 16 APRIL 2009 – Recent research by information security vendor Symantec has shown that Internet service providers (ISP) in developing countries in the Asia Pacific and Japan region are at risk of being targeted by cyber criminals.
The report, which is derived from data collected by Internet sensors, research and the monitoring of hacker communications, covers the period spanning January 2008 to December 2008.
“ISPs in developing countries may play host to various customers, and these ISPs have very little incentive to clean up their servers,” said Avinash Lotke, manager, systems engineering, Symantec Singapore. “Criminals could reach a large number of potential victims simply by compromising the core infrastructure.”
Web-based attacks
China was shown to be the top country in the region for hosting Web-based attacks in 2008, with a whopping 79 per cent of the total number of attacks in the APJ. Japan ranked second, with nine per cent of the total, while Taiwan and South Korea came in third and fourth respectively, each with about three per cent.
Web-based attacks include the infiltration of popular and trusted sites, such as social networking spaces and the websites of financial institutions, to exploit the end-users.
“By compromising that one server, you’ll essentially have reached out to many end-users, rather than having to source out individuals. So the hacker would dramatically have multiplied his reach across the region,” said Low Chee Juee, technical consultant, systems engineering, Symantec Singapore.
Symantec could not provide examples of sites in the APJ that had been compromised last year, citing confidentiality; but said the financial services sector was the primary target, due to the growing popularity of Internet banking.
Spam
The financial services industry also proved a popular choice for spammers in 2008, with 70 per cent of the region’s spam focused on the sector.
China topped the region, with 22 per cent of the region’s spam originating from the country. This is followed by South Korea, at 13 per cent, India at 12 per cent and Thailand at 11 per cent.
India and Thailand experienced “significant increases” in spam volume in 2008, according to the report. In the 2007 edition of the report, the countries registered scores of four per cent and two per cent respectively.
