Thailand faces big risk from malware

THAILAND is among the top 25 malware-infected nations globally, according to the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit. There are more than 5 million IP (Internet protocol) addresses connected to millions of malware-infected devices observed in Asia and Thailand.

According to Microsoft Asia-Pacific CIO Survey, this region is the most actively targeted for cybercrime attacks. A white paper published by the National University of Singapore and market-research firm Inter-national Data Corporation estimates that Asia-Pacific consumers would have spent about US$10.8 billion (Bt383 billion) on the identification, repair and recovery of data and dealing with identity theft from malware on pirated software last year. 

The study also projects that infected pirated software and lost data would have cost enterprises in the region $229 billion – more than 45 per cent of the world total – for the same year. 

Keshav Dhakad, Microsoft director for intellectual property and digital crimes in Asia, said yesterday that Microsoft was committed to expanding its cybercrime-fighting work worldwide to protect computer users, customers and governments through intelligence-sharing partnerships and public-private collaboration.

As individuals and organisations in Thailand become more connected with their devices and information systems, they are also increasingly vulnerable to the exploits of cybercriminals seeking opportunities to steal private, financial and confidential data. 

As the vulnerabilities of the digital world are increasingly thrust under the spotlight amid growing reports of cybersecurity incidents, there will likely be a flight to quality and trust among technology users.

“We work as a global team, but Thailand has also benefited. Microsoft’s DCU [Digital Crimes Unit] head office is located in Redmond [Washington state] and it has five satellite cybercrime centres in Singapore, Japan, Germany, China and Washington, DC,” Dhakad said. 

“Our satellite in Singapore takes care of cybersecurity in Southeast Asia. We also work with Interpol, to deal with cyberattacks.” 

Regarding the Armed Forces’ “cyber army” unit, Admiral Pongthep Nhuthep, senior adviser of the Royal Thai Navy, said the Navy has had similar unit for more than four years. 

The cyber-force will take care of any kind of cyberattacks. This unit consists of more than 10 soldiers who are cybersecurity specialists.

Pongthep acted as the assistant chief of staff for operations of the Navy taking care of the Naval Communi-cations and Information Technology Department for two years, he found that there were on average a couple of cyberattacks per when? on the Navy’s computer systems, mostly its human resource and payroll databases. 

“At the Royal Thai Navy, its agencies are divided into groups to do attacks on each other. It is a kind of practice and test of our cybersecurity system and skills,” he said.

Yanaphon Youngyuen, president of the Thailand Information Security Association (Tisa), said countries around the world needed a cyber-army to defend against cyberattacks. 

Tisa is now playing the role of coordinator to link stakeholders in the cybersecurity industry including government agencies. 

Prinya Hom-Anek, a cybersecurity specialist, said there were three levels of hacking – cybercrime (to make money via ransomware), cyber-espionage (of intellectual property) and cyberwarfare (sponsored or carried out by states). “The cyber-army idea is proposed to deal with all these three hacking levels. It is not designed to fight with their own citizens,” he said.

Cybersecurity threats and trends next year are the emerging hacking industry, undefined or unknown threats, security of things, Internet of Trust, security-driven architecture, vulnerable suppliers, information of things and the data-science revolution, C-Generation lifestyle in the digital economy, cyber-security-centric and resilience in action, IT-related and security capabilities and competence gaps.