Kaspersky Reports Over 61 Million Bruteforce Attacks Targeting SEA Businesses

Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has reported a significant rise in Bruteforce attacks targeting businesses across Southeast Asia (SEA) last year. According to Kaspersky, more than 61 million Bruteforce.Generic.RDP.* attacks were detected and thwarted by their B2B products deployed in companies of varying sizes throughout the region from January to December 2023.

Bruteforce attacks are a method of attempting to guess passwords or encryption keys by systematically trying all possible character combinations until the correct one is found. These attacks pose a serious threat as they allow attackers to gain access to valid user credentials.

Bruteforce Attacks in SEA

The specific Bruteforce.Generic.RDP.* attacks target Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Microsoft’s proprietary protocol used for remote access to computers over a network. By exploiting vulnerabilities in RDP login credentials, attackers can gain remote access to targeted host computers.

“Bruteforce attack is not a threat companies should ignore. The use of third-party services for data
exchange, employees working on home computers, and potentially insecure Wi-Fi networks, and the
use of remote-access tools like RDP remain to be a headache for corporate infosec teams,” explains
Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.

Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand recorded the highest number of RDP attacks in the region last year. Singapore experienced over six million incidents, followed by the Philippines with nearly five million, and Malaysia with the lowest number of almost three million Bruteforce attempts.

These findings underscore the pressing need for businesses to strengthen their cybersecurity measures, particularly regarding password management and RDP security, to mitigate the risk of falling victim to such malicious attacks.