Vietnam’s embrace of e-commerce and digital transformation is exposing the country's businesses to an onslaught of phishing attacks, according to a cybersecurity and anti-virus solution provider.

Statistics from Kaspersky’s Anti-Phishing system indicate that companies in Vietnam saw the highest number of phishing attempts amongst Southeast Asian countries in 2021.

Among over 11.2 million phishing links blocked by Kaspersky, Vietnam accounted for over four million.

For comparison, number two on the list was Indonesia with 2.3 million blocked attacks, followed by Malaysia with nearly 1.8 million, the Philippines with 1.33 million, and Thailand with1.28 million.

Cybercriminals primarily attempted to exploit victims by emailing them links about hot topics; phrases or words related to online activities, including shopping and streaming; or the COVID-19 pandemic.

Users who clicked these links were then exposed to malware attacks.

“Email is still our main method of exchanging messages for work in Southeast Asia," said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

"The 11 million blocked malicious links last year represented only the tip of the iceberg.

“Email contains various credentials which cybercriminals are taking advantage of.

“For instance, a bank in Bangladesh lost over $81 million to a phishing scam in 2016.

"As such, firms in the region should carefully select and use cybersecurity technologies to boost their mail server protection.”

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!