A survey from Palo Alto Networks stresses an imperative need for ASEAN SMEs to update their security capabilities in the face of highly evolving challenges.
Constrained cybersecurity budgets and relatively weaker in-house cybersecurity talent are identified as urgent issues for ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] SMEs faced with a highly evolving regional cybersecurity threat.
The issue is identified in the Palo Alto Networks 2023 State of Cybersecurity ASEAN report.
“Attackers are constantly evolving and many SMEs see security as a point-in-time initiative – they are not updating their security capabilities to keep up with attackers,” said Steven Scheurmann, Regional Vice President for ASEAN, Palo Alto Networks.
“In many parts of ASEAN, SMEs form the backbone of our economies. It is imperative for them to update their security capabilities and an actionable incident response plan is the first step towards redefining their security strategy along with a greater emphasis on automation of existing cybersecurity processes to foster resilience and confidence.”
The survey received responses from 500 business representatives across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand assessing their perspectives on the cybersecurity challenges and future strategies.
Overall, SMEs felt relatively less confident in coping with the cybersecurity challenges due to constrained cybersecurity budgets and relatively weaker in-house cybersecurity talent.
“The confidence in their security measures indicates that businesses have and are continuing to build resilience against evolving cyberattacks,” said Scheurmann.
“However, the survey urges confidence to be coupled with caution. Taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity is the need of the hour which will need an all-hands-on-deck initiative with active participation from everyone within the organisation.”
Increasing digital transactions with third parties (51%), risks from unmonitored IoT devices (47%) and risks posed by personal devices and home networks accessing the corporate network (47%) were cited as the top three challenges facing cybersecurity practitioners.
Key findings from the report include:
Industry:
- ASEAN organisations face three main cybersecurity challenges: Unmonitored IoT devices and unsecured IoT devices (60%); personal devices and home networks accessing the corporate network (47%) and an increase in digital transactions with third parties (47%)
- Most organisations with OT (82%) also admitted to having a common cybersecurity team that look after their IT and OT infrastructure and systems.
- A majority of businesses claim to be working on a 5G strategy, but are concerned with securing 5G data and applications layers
Cybersecurity risks:
- An alarming 95% of organisations said there is a rise in cybersecurity incidents and that disruptive attacks have grown
- More than half (52%) organisations in ASEAN feel that they are at high risk from cybersecurity threats, particularly those in the services (banking and financial), essential services and manufacturing sectors
- Malware is a top concern across 60% of organisations
Boardroom discussions and cybersecurity budget:
- Over 80% of all ASEAN organisations say cybersecurity is discussed at the board level on a quarterly basis.
- Sixty-six percent increased their cybersecurity budget for the year 2023
- Twenty-nine percent reported an increase of more than half of their 2022 budget
Security outlook:
- More than half (53%) ASEAN organisations are thinking of adopting AI integration as the top technology to mitigate cyber-risks
- Three key cybersecurity strategies being considered: Cloud security adoption (44%), identity and access management (40%) and securing IoT/OT (40%)
- Endpoint protection and SASE strategy are other areas organisations focus on
AI integration is the top technology businesses are adopting soon.
Telco/tech/communications businesses are most interested in AI adoption across the region and it is expected to grow at a faster pace in the coming years.
As customers expect cybersecurity firms to leverage AI to serve them better, Malaysia and Singapore are showing higher interest in deploying Big Data/data lake applications.
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