Malware Threats In Indonesia Decrease, Experts Give Suggestions To Stay Alert

Photo: Anticipating malware attacks (photo: iStock)

JAKARTA - Recently, Kaspersky's research revealed that the cyber threat of mobile malware in Indonesia decreased from the previous three years. In 2019 - 2021, malware threats fell by 32.51%. In addition, the threat of mobile banking malware in Indonesia has also decreased significantly by 75.49%.

The era before the pandemic in 2019 was the year with the highest detection of mobile threats in Indonesia. This is due to several major activities that took place in 2019, one of which was the first anniversary of the initiation of Making Indonesia 4.0, where the use of high technology based on digital technology was widely echoed. For those who are very active with digital activities on their devices, this also opens opportunities for cybercriminals to enter.

In the current era of digitalization, it has become a dependency of the people in Indonesia.

“The future in Southeast Asia is definitely on mobile. On the surface, cybercriminals may appear less and less active as mobile malware attacks decline. But this is a global trend and doesn't mean we are becoming safer,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

Cybercriminals are very shrewd and will take every opportunity to target mobile device users. To anticipate being exposed to malware threats, cybersecurity experts call for users to remain vigilant regardless of the high or low number of attacks, here's how:

• Download apps from official sources. Indeed, this does not guarantee 100% security but in the official store there are far fewer malicious programs, and if any malware escapes it will be removed much faster.

• Try to use applications from trusted developers with good reputations to minimize the chances of malware attacks.

• Ignore apps that promise unknown payouts or overly tempting prizes. Most likely this is a scam.

• Don't give apps unnecessary permissions. Most malware will not run fully without malicious permission requests, such as access to Accessibility, access to text messages, and installation of unknown applications.