Microsoft research reveals that Indonesia had the highest rate of malware attacks in the entire Asia-Pacific region in 2019. They conclude that this indicates an increase in cryptojacking and ransomware attacks.

The report indicates that the region continues to experience a „higher than average“ rate of ransomware incidents and other malware attacks, 1.6 and 1.7 times higher than the rest of the world, respectively.

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Ransomware and cryptojacking attacks on the rise in Indonesia
Indonesia had 10.68% of malware attacks during 2019. Although this represents a decrease of 39%, the figures are still twice as high as the regional average, says Microsoft.

In terms of ransomware attacks, Indonesia now ranks second in terms of frequency, at 14 percent. This is 2.8 times higher than the average recorded in other countries in the region.

Cryptojacking cases, in turn, stood at 10% in 2019, twice the regional and even global average. They had the highest frequency rate in the entire Asia-Pacific region and ranked fourth in the world.

Haris Izmee, president and CEO of Microsoft Indonesia, said:

„While recent fluctuations in the value of cryptosystems and the increased time required to generate them have led attackers to redirect their efforts, they continue to attack markets with low cyber-awareness and low adoption of cyber-hygiene practices.

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Increase in COVID-19 related cyber attacks

Microsoft’s Intelligence Protection researchers expressed concern about the increase in attacks caused by COVID-19 in all countries around the world. They note that there has been at least one incident per country, and that the number of successful attacks in high-risk countries is increasing.

Most of the cyber-attacks that take on the theme of Coronavirus are carried out through Corona Millionaire malicious email attachments or URLs. Hackers generally pose as global entities with key roles in the pandemic, such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC), and the United States Department of Health.

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Recently, Cointelegraph reported that Singapore saw a significant increase in attempted cryptojacking attacks during the first quarter of 2020.