What does the accelerating integration of AI technologies into organizations portend for the region’s cybersecurity landscape, given that economies in the region have uneven levels of cybersecurity maturity?

The latest e-Conomy SEA 2025 report by Bain, Temasek and Google revealed that the digital economy of South-east Asia is projected to hit US$135 billion in 2025. It also pointed out not increasing AI adoption among consumers, but also the intensifying integration of AI in organizations’ systems and operations.

As the digital economy in South-east Asia continues on its growth path, AI adoption is playing a key role – and expected to play an even bigger role in 2026 and beyond. What does the accelerating integration of AI technologies portend for the region’s cybersecurity landscape?

Hia: APAC is seeing a rapid expansion of its digital ecosystems, with AI adoption accelerating across industries. It comes as no surprise that this will continue to bring about substantial benefits as more organizations look to leverage AI to drive efficiency, unlock new growth opportunities and fuel innovation – a drive that will only continue to intensify as AI becomes more sophisticated and accessible.

However, the accelerating integration of AI is a double-edged sword. While it can bring about the aforementioned advantages, it also inevitably expands the attack surface for cybercriminals, heightening the risk of cyber breaches for both businesses and individuals.

AI-powered chatbots, for example, can inadvertently leak sensitive personal or corporate data if not properly secured, and malicious code can also be embedded into these AI-generated outputs. These examples illustrate only a fraction of the emerging threats, as the adoption of AI presents new targets for threat actors.  

As a region shaped by both diversity and interdependence, the uneven levels of cybersecurity maturity across its markets create pockets of vulnerabilities that global threat actors may seek to exploit as entry points into the wider regional chain. This points to a dual reality for the region’s cybersecurity landscape in 2026: the increasing need for, and challenge to, secure digital assets in the face of an ever-growing exposure to cyberthreats.

For Asia Pacific organizations, what are the cybersecurity opportunities to harness and potential threats to manage in 2026?

Hia: The integration of AI technologies can help to enhance organizations’ offensive and defensive cybersecurity capabilities. Specifically, machine learning models can facilitate the identification of stealthier malware and/or intrusion attempts, and aid in the creation of patches for vulnerabilities.

At Kaspersky, for example, we have developed a wide range of AI/ML-powered threat detection technologies, primarily for identifying malware. These include a deep neural network algorithm for detecting malicious executable files based on static features, decision-tree ML technology for automated creation of detection rules that work on user devices, and neural networks for detecting malicious behavior of programs during execution – all of which help to better detect and defend against cyberattacks.

In addition, for organizations grappling with the global shortage of cybersecurity talent, AI provides a means to shoulder the growing burden of cybersecurity threats that are intensifying in both volume and sophistication. For SMEs with limited resources to hire dedicated cybersecurity professionals, AI can democratize this access to cybersecurity. While not a perfect substitute, it can serve as a strong complement to their existing defenses.

However, the same technologies are also being weaponized by cybercriminals. Large language models now enable attackers to craft convincing phishing attacks at scale and are accelerating malware development.

In 2026, we may be seeing the trade in realistic deepfakes and AI-powered campaigns expanding even more, fueling scams such as those centered around job interviews and offers. We may also be seeing the advent of agentic AI malware, which is characterized by its ability to dynamically alter behavior mid-execution, making it even harder to detect and intercept such threats.

Please provide some key insights into the unique growth trajectories and potential challenges faced by various markets in the region, and how progress in specific markets shapes and is shaped by the broader regional landscape.

In highly digitalized economies like Singapore, Japan and Korea for example, their main challenge lies in staying on top of the latest threat intelligence and tackling novel threat campaigns that target them precisely as they sit at the forefront of digitalization.

like India, their main challenge is centered around building cybersecurity resilience with comprehensive endpoint protection that can adequately protect their move towards digitalization and IT-OT convergence.

Despite these differences, progress in individual markets is equally vital in strengthening the regional ecosystem. More mature digital hubs like Singapore and Japan act as catalysts in charting standards and best practices that can uplift capabilities across the region.

Meanwhile, the securing of networks and supply chains in emerging economies is just as critical in building watertight defenses across borders. At Kaspersky, it is this recognition of APAC’s interconnectedness and the need for collective progress that drives us to deepen our work in these markets, to secure APAC’s digital future.