January 16, 2026
MANILA – 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…