TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A.T. Kearney’s media communication and technology expert Germaine Hoe Yen Yi explained why ASEAN countries, especially Indonesia, is predicted to be prone to cyber attacks in 2018 up to the year 2025.

“The low policy supervision, the lack of experts in the digital field, high susceptibility and low investments,” said Yen Yi during the Southeast Asia emergency security presentation on Tuesday, January 23.

A.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries.

From 10 ASEAN countries, only Singapore and Malaysia are considered among the most advanced countries. Meanwhile, Philippines and Thailand are in their development stage in regards to cybersecurity.

Indonesia’s cybersecurity is considered to be in its infancy, which includes its regulations, national strategy development, governance, and international partnership.

“Malaysia is expected to need more than four thousand cybersecurity experts by the year 2020 to fight against cybersecurity issues,” said Yen Yi.

Meanwhile, in investments, ASEAN countries still provides limited funding for cyber securities with an average of 0.07 percent from their gross domestic product. Yen Yi argues that the number must be increased to 0.35 percent and 0.61 percent compared to their GDP in 2025.

Cisco ASEAN President Naveen Menon said that a county’s success in digitalization depends on their ability to resist cyber attack threats. He also urged stakeholders to unite and help build cybersecurity abilities.

Moh Khory Alfarizi