Palo Alto Networks revealed that digital transaction development is also accompanied by a risk of more than 50% cyber attacks against entrepreneurs.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — A cybersecurity company, Palo Alto Networks, revealed several cybersecurity progress around the ASEAN region, particularly in Indonesia.
The latest report, entitled The State of Cybersecurity ASEAN 2023, revealed that around 60% of companies surveyed face considerable risk from the growing threat of cyberattacks.
Most cybersecurity challenges are caused by several activities, including the digital transaction development that involves third parties (58%), threats from unmonitored IoT devices (49%), and dependence on cloud-based services (48%).
The Country Manager Indonesia of Palo Alto Networks, Adi Rusli, perceives the digital transactions enhancement coming from entrepreneurs who intend to connect with suppliers and other third parties. From a B2B perspective, they have provided an Application Program Interface (API) system. However, the development of digital transactions is also accompanied by a risk of more than 50% cyber attacks against business actors, particularly SMEs.
“Cybercriminals continue to enhance their attack strategy. As the country’s economic driving factor, I urge SMEs in ASEAN to update their cyber security system capabilities as an initial move to protect the businesses’ security. Also, strengthening the automation of cyber security processes is important to foster resilience in the face of increasing cyber attacks,” added Adi.
Cybersecurity remains most priority aspect
Perceiving numerous cyber threats in this digital era, cybersecurity enhancement has become the most priority aspect in multiple companies’ boards of directors. As cited from the report, over 53% of Indonesia’s companies revealed that cybersecurity is a hot issue among the board of directors quarterly and has become the primary agenda for several international events.
This matter has also encouraged regional companies to increase budgets to strengthen their cyber security infrastructure. According to the report, more than 63% of Indonesian companies intend to uplift their expenses this year. Moreover, around 30% of companies noted that their budget augmentation to resolve this matter has increased by over 50% for 2023.
“Companies’ confidence in the cyber security defense measures shows they have prepared for the increasing cyber threats. This belief needs to be accompanied by vigilance. For this reason, a proactive approach to cyber security requires an active role from entire parties in the organization.” the Regional Vice President for ASEAN in Palo Alto Networks, Steven Scheurmann, affirmed during the media briefing. (18/09)
In strengthening cyber security at the regional level, the Palo Alto report delivered that integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology is one of the technology trends most widely adopted by organizations. This matter aligns with the moves of Indonesian companies, where around 70% are considering implementing AI.
Apart from that, this trend is also followed by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) as a technology used to create distributed financial systems, such as blockchain, ledgers, and smart contracts, which has been widely adopted by companies in Indonesia (47%)