Singapore firms see region’s sharpest spyware attack surge

Spyware detections against Singapore organisations more than doubled in 2025, whilst Southeast Asia recorded an 18% rise.

Spyware detections against organisations in Singapore rose 111% in 2025, the sharpest increase among Southeast Asian markets covered by Kaspersky.

The cybersecurity firm said detections in Singapore climbed to 30,691 in 2025 from 14,533 in 2024. Across Southeast Asia, Kaspersky business solutions blocked 818,939 spyware attacks against organisations, up 18% from 695,425 a year earlier.

By volume, Vietnam recorded the highest number of detections in 2025 at 322,821, followed by Malaysia at 194,692 and Indonesia at 194,626. Singapore ranked fourth, ahead of Thailand at 52,906 and the Philippines at 23,203.

Apart from Singapore, the Philippines posted an 85% rise, Malaysia increased 75%, Indonesia rose 35%, and Vietnam climbed 8%. Thailand was the only market to record a decline, with detections falling 53%.

Kaspersky said the rise shows that threat actors are increasingly looking beyond business disruption and targeting sensitive information, strategic insights, and corporate intelligence.

Spyware is secretly installed on a user’s computer to collect data, exposing businesses to data breaches and misuse of confidential information. It can also affect network and device performance.

The report cited Operation ForumTroll, a cyberespionage campaign uncovered in March 2025, which exploited a Chrome zero-day vulnerability and used personalised phishing emails to infiltrate organisations in media, government, education, and finance.

Kaspersky urged businesses to keep software updated, avoid exposing remote desktop services to public networks unless necessary, use strong passwords, adopt advanced security tools and threat intelligence, and regularly back up corporate data.