Taiwan was the No. 1 target of cyberattacks in the world during the first quarter of this year, IT security company Check Point said yesterday.
The average number of weekly cyberattacks globally per organization rose 7 percent from a year earlier to 1,248 during the first quarter, targeting government agencies, private firms and education institutions, the company said.
However,the number of weekly cyberattacks against Taiwan per organization averaged 3,250 over the period, 2.6 times the global average, it said.
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Globally, academic institutions, universities and research centers were the No. 1 targets, coming under 2,507 cyberattacks per week on average, an increase of 15 percent from a year earlier, it said.
The trend points to the vulnerability of such institutions amid online teaching and videoconferencing, it said, adding that most of them lack the IT competency for data protection.
They can become easy targets when expanding their network, as hackers can target wireless access point stations, it said.
The No. 2 target of cyberattacks globally were government agencies and military branches, which came under 1,725 attacks per week on average, an increase of 3 percent annually, the company said.
Hospitals and healthcare institutions were targeted 1,684 times per week on average, up 22 percent annually, while retailers were attacked 1,079 per week on average, up 49 percent from a year earlier, Check Point said.
By region, African countries experienced the most attacks globally at 1,983 per week on average, down 2 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region came under 1,835 attacks per week on average, up 16 percent, while North American countries sustained an average of 950 attacks per week, an increase of 9 percent from a year earlier.
Check Point urged cybersecurity agencies to remain vigilant at all times, initiate new policies, and eliminate potential cybersecurity loopholes and breach points.
They should apply integrated solutions for end-to-end preventive controls against hackers using the latest technology, the company said.
Hackers might use remote access of phishing e-mails to mount attacks, it said, urging cybersecurity units to make sure their IT frameworks adopt “network segmentation” to confine attacks to a limited section of their network.
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