IRONSCALES Security Incident

Blog The State of Ransomware Attacks across East and Southeast Asia Ransomware Email Security 2021 The State of Ransomware Attacks across East and Southeast Asia IRONSCALES June 24, 2021 Table of Contents Jump to a section Countries in East and Southeast Asia have been targeted with multiple high-profile ransomware attacks over the last 18 months. The attacks have hit companies of all sizes across a disparate range of industries, languages, and territories in the region, as cyber criminals look for a large payday. Ransomware in East Asia and Southeast Asia: The Statistics Here are some useful background statistics on the state of ransomware in East and Southeast Asia from various industry reports and surveys: Research found that there was a 168 percent increase in ransomware attacks in the Asia Pacific region when comparing May 2020 with May 2021. This trend reflects a wider global increase in ransomware attacks. A report in Southeast Asia found that ransomware attacks on small to medium-sized businesses in the region actually decreased during 2020. The same report found that Indonesia ranked fifth globally for the number of incidents reported. The proportion of surveyed organizations in different countries willing to pay the ransoms demanded by successful hackers was 57% in Japan and 69% in South Korea. The numbers show that organizations in East Asia remain attractive targets for ransomware attacks perhaps due to the larger company sizes in these countries coupled with their relatively high willingness to pay. Fujifilm, Japan: June 2021 In June 2021, an official statement by the Japanese multinational Fujifilm revealed details of a ransomware attack on its Tokyo headquarters. The attack resulted in Fujifilm taking networks, servers, and IT equipment and systems offline as a precaution. Subsequent media headlines in the days following the attack reported that the company refused to pay the ransoms demanded by hackers. Instead, Fujifilm relied on backups to...

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