SaaS and Webmail are the Biggest Phishing Targets in Southeast Asia

Interpol notes that deceiving victims into providing sensitive data online through phishing is one of the most frequent cyber threats in Southeast Asia up to the second quarter of 2020. A total of 146,994 phishing websites were detected in the region during that period.

Software as a service (SaaS)/webmail was the most targeted industry, accounting for 35% of phishing attacks. Financial institutions represented 18% of targets.

Payment services accounted for another 12% of phishing targets. Social media and e-commerce/retail services followed, each representing 11% and 7% respectively.

Logistics/shipping and cloud storage services each accounted for 3% of phishing targets. The remaining 11% of phishing attacks targeted other industries.

Meanwhile, Kaspersky recorded 1.6 million phishing attempts in Southeast Asia between January and June 2020. Of that number, 749,900 cases occurred in Indonesia.

Vietnam experienced 737,200 phishing attempts, Thailand 478,800, Malaysia 442,400, the Philippines 200,300, and Singapore 145,000. Despite having the lowest number of cases, phishing attempts in Singapore increased by 60.5% during that period.