Thailand placed fifth out of 25 countries in Asia for its exposure to cyber security threats and attacks in 2015 and 11th globally, according to Bitdefender, a Romanian company specialising in cyber security software.
The rankings were compiled based on the sheer amount of malware detected in key countries across the world, reports the Bangkok Post.
The number one country in Asia for threats was India, followed by Indonesia, China and Vietnam, with Thailand rounding off the top 5.
Unsurprisingly, the cybersecurity market in the region is growing exponentially and is now worth US$7.5 billion, according to Michal Dominik, Indochina managing director of Bitdefender.
Thailand’s market alone is worth around US$20 million.
A global threat
A need for strong and effective cyber security is in the global zeitgeist more than ever before, in both the personal and business sectors, thanks to the high profile data breaches suffered by companies and organisations like the IRS, project management tool Slack and Experian.
And who can forget the big-daddy Ashley Madison leak whereby 37 million customer records were exposed, revealing both personal information and the email addresses of customers using the extra-marital affair website?
390,000 new pieces of malware are created every day across the world, with many focusing on information theft and the funding of terrorism. It was revealed last year that in the UK alone, cyber attacks were costing industries GB£34 billion annually.
Governments and banks spend particularly highly on information and data security, unsurprising given that they have the most to lose – both monetarily and politically – should they be attacked. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are also coming up to speed to the prospect of cyber risks, particularly as they were the target of 60 percent of all cyber attacks last year.
SMEs’ vulnerabilities are targeted as they generally lack the funding and know-how to properly prepare and defend themselves from risk.
But as dependence on technology is growing, so too is the awareness of the risks that accompany it – the 2015 Fortune 500 CEO survey found that two thirds of the CEOs surveyed identified cybersecurity as one of their biggest challenges, ahead of other concerns like increased regulation, lack of skilled labour and shareholder activism.
As the sophistication of malware evolves, so do the security measures designed to stop them – cloud security, for instance, is growing at 50 percent globally every year and mobile security at 18 percent.
Hopefully Thailand and the rest of the Asia region won’t get left behind – Bitdefender product manager Wuttikrai Matthavabhandhu has spoken of the software company’s plans to provide bundle packages of its products alongside purchases of internet service packages here in Thailand.
Featured image is by Mr. Cacahuate and used under a Creative Commons licence
