"Singapore Clocks Higher Ransomware Attacks, Warns of IoT Risks"
In Singapore, ransomware and phishing attacks are on the rise, affecting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as social media platforms. Cybercriminals are also expected to turn their attention to Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cryptocurrency-based transactions, exploiting these platforms' lack of security protection. Last year, 55,000 locally hosted phishing URLs were discovered, a 17 percent increase from 2020, with social media companies accounting for more than half of spoofed targets. This could be due to threat actors looking to capitalize on public interest in WhatsApp's announcement to update its privacy policy, according to Singapore's Cyber Security Agency (CSA), which recently released its Singapore Cyber Landscape 2021 report. The most commonly spoofed sector was social media, followed by financial services and cloud services. According to CSA, the most commonly spoofed brands were WhatsApp, Facebook, Lloyds, Chase Bank, and Microsoft. In late 2021, amid increased interest in the Omicron subvariant outbreak, scammers spoofed government websites. The number of ransomware cases reported to CSA last year was 137, up 54 percent from 2020, with SMBs in industries such as manufacturing and IT being the most vulnerable. These industries typically operate 24/7, thus leaving little time for organizations to patch their systems. It was noted that ransomware groups targeting SMBs in Singapore used the Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, which allowed amateur hackers to use existing infrastructure to deliver ransomware payloads. Over 3,000 malicious command-and-control (C2) servers were discovered being hosted in Singapore last year, more than triple the number for 2020 and the highest number since 2017. The significant increase was attributed to Cobalt Strike malware distribution servers, which accounted for nearly 30 percent of all the C2 servers. This article continues to discuss findings shared by Singapore's CSA on the country's cyber landscape.
ZDNet reports "Singapore Clocks Higher Ransomware Attacks, Warns of IoT Risks"