Over five million web-based attacks blocked in Singapore—Kapersky

Online campaigns designed for access denial or unauthorised entry reached record detection levels.

Over five million web threats were detected in 2025, with one in five Singaporeans targeted by such threats during the period, a report by Kaspersky said.

Web-based threats, also known as online threats, are cybersecurity risks that exploit the internet as a vector to launch malicious campaigns. They are designed to inflict damage ranging from access denial, which prevents users from entering their computer or network services, to access acquisition, where it provides the threat actor with unauthorised entry into these devices and networks. It is also capable of leaking sensitive data and can even disrupt these systems’ operations.

Kaspersky reported detecting and blocking 5,336,055 web threats in Singapore.

According to the cybersecurity firm, one of the most common attack methods involves the exploitation of browser vulnerabilities and their plugins. Known as drive-by downloads, these infections can occur simply through visiting a compromised website, where malware is embedded into the user’s device without their knowledge.

Some of these attacks are even file-less, making detection, analysis and removal exceptionally complex.

Another infamous method of attack is social engineering. These attacks are designed to trick users into downloading malicious files or disclosing sensitive data by posing as legitimate entities.

A recent case detected by Kaspersky illustrates this – cybercriminals created a fraudulent website that closely mimicked Amazon, tempting users with a $200 gift card offer and luring them into clicking the “Get your Amazon gift card” button.

Losses through scams reached $913.1m last year, according to the Annual Scam and Cybercrime Brief 2025. However, anti-scam strategies and public education measures lessened scam cases by 27.6% during in 2025.