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The latter half of 2024 saw a marked increase in advanced email attacks on organisations in the Asia-Pacific region.
The year 2024 saw an alarming increase in attacks launched via email, with incidents in the APAC region rising by 26.9 per cent year on year.
Activity surged in the second half of the year, with a 20 per cent rise between the second and third quarters.
Putting all that into straight numbers, attacks per 1,000 mailboxes rose from 472 in 2023 to 600 in 2024.
The figures come from behavioural security firm Abnormal Security, which focused its research on Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Singapore.
In Australia and New Zealand, hacktivists targeting government institutions have contributed to the rise, while in Japan, given its position in the region, the culprits tend to be more state-based. Singapore, on the other hand, has largely been targeted by cyber criminals seeking to capitalise on the country’s status as a financial and logistics hub.
Phishing attacks specifically rose by 30.5 per cent, while business email compromise attacks were less dramatic, rising only by 6 per cent. However, as Tim Bentley, vice president of APJ at Abnormal Security, said, when those attacks can cost, on average, more than $137,000, any rise is cause for concern.
In 2023, business email compromise cost businesses in the region in the area of $2.9 billion in losses.
“The surge in attack volume across the APAC region can likely be attributed to several factors, including the strategic significance of its countries as epicentres for trade, finance, and defence,” Bentley said in a statement.
“This makes organisations in the region attractive targets for complex email campaigns designed to exploit economic dynamics, disrupt essential industries, and steal sensitive data.
“As sophisticated email-based threats continue to rise, businesses in the APAC region must evolve their defences, including investing in intelligent security solutions that can precisely detect and block attacks before they land in employee inboxes.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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