3 out of 5 Singaporean firms paid ransoms during cyberattacks in 2023: Survey

Despite the global rise in ransomware attacks, “the increase is not at an alarming rate”, Associate Professor Liang Zhenkai from the National University of Singapore’s department of computer science told CNA. “Ransomware has been around for many years, with a big surge during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the large-scale work from home arrangement,” he explained. He urged firms to remain vigilant, including by having good data backup and recovery as well as cyber hygiene processes. These include not downloading and running programmes from unknown sources, and not using accounts with administrator privileges for day-to-day tasks.

Channel News Asia, 2 August 2024