HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Asia Pacific(APAC), a fertile land for social media, houses more than half of the totalusers worldwide and is at the centre of Facebook’s growth.

The latest numbers from German company Statista, which specialises in marketand consumer data, show that East Asia has logged the most number of virtualnetwork users at over 1 billion as of 2020 so far, with Southeast Asia andSouth Asia both trailing behind with over 400 million users, respectively.

As the region first hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, different forms of lockdownshave been implemented, eased and re-issued across APAC, putting forwarduncharted opportunities for the internet and social media.

The rapid rise and ever-evolving usage of these platforms -- from postingpictures, sending messages, to becoming an expanding marketplace -- makes itessential to examine this new economic frontier.

Speaking at Kaspersky’s sixth Cybersecurity Weekend recently, Vitaly Kamluk, Director of Global Research andAnalysis (GReAT) for APAC, at Kaspersky, said: “One of the most visible effectsof this pandemic is how it forced everyone, from individuals to the biggestcompanies, to shift a lot of their activities online.

“This dependence, triggered by our need to secure our physical health, alsopushed us to increase our social media use, either to connect with our distantloved ones, to give support to our community, to entertain ourselves, or to gethold of products and services that we need. Parallel to this trend is theopening of wider doors for cybercriminals to exploit.”

Aside from the heavier reliance on the internet, the pandemic situation alsoprovided an effective tool for cybercriminals – a “hook” that could make oneclick a phishing email, share a malicious link, forward an infected image, andmore.

“From detecting and analysing 350,000 unique malware samples a day pre-COVID,we currently see a total of 428,000 new samples per a 24-hour window.

“Add the geopolitical events across APAC, the uptick on e-commerce and e-walletadoption, the continuous remote work set-up and online learning, and theemotional and psychological stresses of the situation, the 2020 threatlandscape seems to favor cybercriminals.

“However, hope is in our hands as we are the controller of our onlineactivities. Improved vigilance to protect our digital identities and assets isnecessary,” Kamluk said.

Rafizah Amran, deputy chief marketing and communication officer for PrasaranaMalaysia and an integrated marketing communications and public relationsspecialist, said: “From my experience, the digital reputation of a company isimportant. Our hyperconnected community made it easier for consumers to voicetheir opinions in favour or against our products and services.

“This forced us, marketers and companies, to focus beyond closing sales andrunning campaigns, and to know our end-users, put customers’ experiences in themiddle, and involve them in our decision-making process. Most importantly, inthis era of quick postings and virality, it is important for brands to be veryhonest and be excellent listeners.”

With the theme “Secure Your Digital Reputation”, the Cybersecurity Weekendexplored the impact of social media activities on individuals’ personalidentities and companies’ brand perceptions.

The annual media conference, which was held online for the first time, wasattended by Kaspersky’s elite researcher, an industry expert, and journalistsfrom the 12 APAC countries./.