Singapore ranks as top ‘attacking country’ for hackers, according to cyber security firm

Singapore loves to be number one — just look at how hard we work to get Changi Airport to the top of the Best Airport list almost every year and how proud we are of our passport being the most powerful one in the world. But the list below is, unfortunately, not one we’ll be adding to our record of accolades anytime soon.

Apparently, Singapore is the world’s top launcher of cyber attacks, according to Israeli cyber security firm Check Point, which deals with threat intelligence, protection and management for organizations across the globe.

The company’s Threat Map, which debuted in 2015, gathers cyber attack intelligence, which is then distributed to the gateways of customers for instant protection. It tracks over 10 million global cyber attacks daily.

It’s also rather fascinating (in a morbid way) to watch the site’s live updates of cyber attacks around the world.

Right at the top of the “Attacking Countries” list is Singapore, followed by the US, the UK, Russia, Cyprus, Italy, France, China, Germany and the Netherlands. It seems like we’ve had the honor of taking first place on the tracker since Monday, and more often than not, Singapore is one of the top attacking countries, reported The New Paper.

A Check Point spokesman told TNP that the live map is based on data from global sensors like VirusTotal, an antivirus and online scan engine. She added that while the attacks are launched from computer systems in Singapore, the people behind them are probably not based here.

The high volume of traffic and massive amount of computing power in Singapore is what makes it popular with cyber criminals as a gateway to launch global attacks, explained the spokesman. After hackers worm their way into vulnerable systems, they can seize control to launch attacks remotely.

But rest assured that at least Singapore’s not in the list of top ten “Target Countries” — which sees Colombia at the top, followed by India, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Taiwan —  although we’ve experienced cyber attacks on government agencies and companies here.

On the bright side, Singapore also topped the United Nations’ rankings on cyber security strategy recently, and the country is considering new laws that will improve the strength of its cyber security.