Member countries will benefit from more regional-level cybersecurity training and resource-sharing initiatives started since 2018.

In recent years, technologies and methods have been rapidly evolving, and the damage caused by cyberattacks — by both independent cybercriminals as well as state-sponsored threat groups — has been expanding on a global scale.

However, the global shortage of cybersecurity personnel has highlighted the need to develop human resources and build talent capacity an urgent concern. In our region, the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC) has been working to pump up the development of cybersecurity talent for ASEAN member countries since 2018 as part of the “Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund 2.0″ (JAIF 2.0).

The AJCCBC’s latest project involves working with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to hold a variety of hands-on cybersecurity exercises, including recovery measures against cyberattacks,  and incident response exercises for personnel from governments and critical infrastructure firms in the region. These exercises will be held four times in Bangkok, Thailand, by December 2023.

As 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, JICA will start cooperating with the ASEAN Secretariat to strengthen the operation of the AJCCBC and develop it further as needed.

In the meantime, these regional authorities have contracted NEC Corporation’s Thailand and Asia Pacific offices to conduct the cybersecurity exercises. The firm has already been providing training environments since the opening of the AJCCBC, and has contributed to cybersecurity human resource development in the ASEAN region over the course of 24 exercises held throughout 2022. Moreover, new exercises will be provided for prepare trainers to conduct local exercises independently in the future.

Going forward, NEC has been appointed by the AJCCBC and other ongoing alliances to contribute to the improvement of cybersecurity capabilities through the conduct of cyber defense exercises and the provision of other IT products and services to various government agencies and critical infrastructure.