Asean must balance AI with cybersecurity

As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) digital economy races toward a projected value of $1 trillion by 2030—and could possibly double with the Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement—artificial intelligence’s (AI) transformative potential risks being compromised by a lax cybersecurity approach.

Our region has seen a sharp rise in cyber threats, with attacks growing in scale and sophistication. The IBM 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index reports that Asia-Pacific saw a 13 percent increase in attacks and accounted for 34 percent of incidents in 2024—more than any other region—driven by the region’s critical position in technology, manufacturing, and global supply chains. The Philippines was among the most attacked countries according to the report, tied with Indonesia, Thailand, and South Korea at second place.

Singapore’s latest cyber landscape shows phishing and ransomware as dominant threats and a sharp uptick in infected systems. Malaysia ranked among the top in Southeast Asia for web-based threats in 2024.

The rapid adoption of AI is also expanding the attack surface and introducing new vulnerabilities across workflows, data pipelines, and third-party integrations. At least 66 percent of organizations expect the technology to have the most significant impact on cybersecurity in the year to come, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025. However, only 37 percent of these organizations have processes in place to assess the security of AI tools before deployment, revealing a gap between recognizing AI-induced risks and rapidly implementing AI without necessary cybersecurity safeguards. The IBM 2025 Cost of Data Breach Report echoes this troubling pattern of AI adoption greatly outpacing AI security and governance: of the 13 percent of organizations globally that reported breaches of AI models or applications, 97 percent reported not having AI access controls in place.

As enterprises deploy AI at scale, attackers are evolving their tactics by exploiting vulnerabilities in AI models, targeting proprietary data, and leveraging phishing campaigns to infiltrate systems. The IBM X-Force report also revealed that 84 percent of phishing emails now deliver infostealers, and 30 percent of breaches stem from the abuse of valid accounts.

With economic losses climbing, the stakes have never been higher, and enterprises need to act quickly. The Asean average cost of a data breach rose by almost 14 percent to $3.67 million in 2025. In the Philippines, financial institutions supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reportedly lost P5.82 billion from cyberattacks in 2024, a 2.6 percent increase from the previous year.

Encouragingly, policymakers are acting: the Asean Cybersecurity Cooperation Strategy (2021 to 2025) advances information-sharing and joint readiness, while Singapore’s Cybersecurity Act, Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Agency, and the Philippines’ National Cybersecurity Plan 2023-2028 are designed to strengthen enforcement and resilience.

While policy-level initiatives provide the framework and impetus, they are not enough. In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, the strategic opportunity lies in pairing human expertise with AI to build greater security resilience. Today’s mature AI algorithms can contextualize vast volumes of data—from raw signals to behavioral patterns—enabling security teams to detect threats faster and respond with precision. At IBM, we’re pioneering generative AI use cases that not only enhance threat detection but also automate response workflows, freeing up valuable time, and improving overall resilience.

From our extensive work and expertise in securing our clients’ cyber signatures, here is a pragmatic playbook for Asean businesses to consider:

Secure-by-design AI: Treat AI systems (models, data, prompts, agents) as critical assets—inventory them, restrict access, monitor usage, and red-team continuously.

Identity-first protection: Roll out phishing-resistant authentication, close authentication gaps, and monitor for infostealers and credential abuse across endpoints and cloud.

Automate the security operations center: Use mature AI plus gen AI to accelerate investigations, cut alert fatigue, and keep cybersecurity professionals in the loop and in charge.

Invest in skills, jointly: Expand public-private talent programs and regional information-sharing under Asean frameworks.

At IBM, we believe the future of cybersecurity lies in the fusion of mature AI, generative innovation, and automation—empowering security teams to stay ahead of threats, protect critical assets, and build trust in a digital-first world. As Asean’s digital economy scales new heights, let’s ensure our cybersecurity posture rises with it. In the race to harness AI, security isn’t an afterthought, it’s the foundation.

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Catherine Lian is the general manager and technology leader of IBM Asean.

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