According to a new research commissioned by Cisco, companies across ASEAN faces a growing risk of cyberattacks, which could expose the region’s top listed firms to a US$750 billion (RM3 trillion) erosion in current market capitalisation.
The research that was conducted by A.T. Kearney, ASEAN’s growing strategic relevance that is driven by economic expansion and digital adoption makes it a prime target for cyberattacks.
“Like the rest of the world, Malaysian organisations were also affected by the slew of high profile cyberthreats such as WannaCry and Nyetya last year,” stated Albert Chai, Managing Director at Cisco Malaysia. “This means that businesses that come short of deploying a robust security framework risk losing not just money, but also the trust and credibility of their customers.
The research report, titled ‘Cybersecurity in ASEAN: An Urgent Call to Action’, emphasises that cybersecurity risk across the bloc will continue to escalate as the bloc gets more digitally interconnected.
Currently, ASEAN countries spends an average of 0.07% of its collective GDP on cybersecurity annually. This needs to change. Naveen Menon commented: “Cybersecurity needs to be an integral part of policy discussions at the semi-annual ASEAN Summit, with the aim of developing a unified policy framework for the region. The corporate sector also needs to start treating cybersecurity as a business-wide issue that can only be tackled by adopting a risk-centric approach to building resilience.
