Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia listcos less exposed to cyber threats than global peers: Survey

LISTED companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are less exposed to cyber threats, on average, than their global peers, a new study has found.

About 29 per cent of Singapore's listed companies had some exposure to cyber threats between October 2017 and October 2018, along with 30 per cent of Indonesian companies and 40 per cent of Malaysian ones.

The global average across the 11 stock market indices was 55 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Cyber Exposure Index assigned scores based on the number of sensitive information disclosures and the risk from this information, divided by the number of employees. A score of zero represents a company with no cyber threat exposure in the past 12 months.

Overall, Indonesia had the lowest score in the markets polled (9.56), followed by Hong Kong (13.0) and Singapore (37.7). Malaysia, in fifth place (56.67), was still shy of the mean score of 63.07.

The industrials industry was the most exposed in both Singapore and Malaysia, while Indonesia's energy sector was most at risk in that country.

According to Cyber Intelligence House, the firm that commissioned the research, cyber exposure, or the amount of sensitive data already exposed, "is the best predictor of the likelihood and intensity of cybercrime against that company in the near to mid-term".

Some types of information that could put companies at risk are internal communications, as well as credentials, such as usernames and passwords, that could give unauthorised parties access to restricted systems.

Mikko Niemela, chief executive of Cyber Intelligence House, added: "Any level of cyber exposure, even if it if poses no immediate danger, can be damaging as it sows the seeds of sabotage . . . It is therefore imperative for companies to know how cyber exposed they are."