Philippine internet prone to hacking — study

MANILA, Philippines - More than half of internet users in the Philippines have been hacked or infected with malware during the last six months of 2016, according to a study by global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

In the Kaspersky Cybersecurity Index based on a twice-yearly online survey of thousands of internet users around the world, almost the same number of Filipino respondents admitted their lack of concern about online dangers.

During the second half of 2016, the global cybersecurity company surveyed 17,337 internet users from 28 countries including 491 netizens from the Philippines. The sample in each wave of research represents the adult online population, grouped by age and gender in every country of the study.

The study’s results revealed 50 percent of Filipino netizens remained unconcerned about cyberattacks – 24 percentage points lower than the global average of 74 percent. 

This means more internet users in the Philippines acknowledged their vulnerability online, Kaspersky Lab said.

Filipinos also displayed better online protection habits, with only 34 percent of respondents unprotected compared to the 39 percent global score.

On the other hand, 52 percent of respondents from the Philippines confessed they were once affected by cybercrime incidents during the second half of 2016 – an alarming 23 points higher than the worldwide rate of 29 percent.