Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has revealed that cyber risk levels in Asia Pacific have improved from the first half to the second half of 2022, according to its latest survey on cyber risk.
Nevertheless, organizations remain pessimistic about the threat landscape, with 82% anticipating successful attacks this year, the company said.
The findings come from Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report, which measures the gap between respondents’ cybersecurity preparedness versus their likelihood of being attacked.
In Asia Pacific, enhanced cyber preparedness is a key driver of improved cyber risk levels — which has shifted from “elevated” to “moderate”. However, organizations cannot rest on their laurels with the prospect of threats looming.
Three in four organizations cited that it was “somewhat to very likely” that they would suffer a breach of customer data (74%), intellectual property (74%) or a successful cyberattack (82%).
These figures represent declines of just 2%, 4%, and 7% respectively, from the results of the CRI in the first half of 2022.
“We’ve seen a drastic improvement in the APAC cyber risk index since the first half of 2022, with figures moving into positive territory at 0.05 from negative levels. This is a promising result as it means that organizations have greatly stepped up to improve their cyber preparedness,” Nilesh Jain, VP for Southeast Asia and India at Trend Micro, said.
“Organizations must continue this momentum by focusing on the threats that matter most to their business this year. The first step is to gain complete and continuous attack surface visibility and control.”
Although the Philippines continues to experience “elevated” risk levels, there has been some improvement since the first half of 2022, with cyber risk declining and preparedness improving.
However, local organizations remain strongly on guard with over 80% of organizations citing that they are “somewhat to very likely” to experience a breach in customer data (82%), intellectual property (82%), or a successful cyberattack (87%) in the next 12 months.
Organizations in the Philippines and Asia Pacific cited ransomware, business email compromise, and botnets among the top five cyber threats that they expect to experience this year.
In Asia Pacific and the Philippines, primary infrastructure risks cited are people related. Respondents in the Philippines and across the region named employees/personnel as representing three of their top five infrastructure risks.
Ian Felipe, country manager, Trend Micro Philippines said: “Hybrid work has become the norm in the Philippines—Trend Micro’s recent Risky Rewards study revealed that 78% of Filipino businesses believe that offering the ability to work from anywhere has become vital in the war for talent.
“At the same time, 62% believe there is a strong connection between cybersecurity and overall business risk. Local organizations thus need to master a balancing act between offering employees flexibility and minimizing both the security and business risks that arise.
“Armed with the insights provided by the CRI, CISOs and CIOs in the Philippines can now better evaluate not only the technology solutions but its people and processes to help mitigate cyber risks across the enterprise.”
