Interpol’s 2025/2026 assessment reveals that cybercrime now accounts for 30% of all criminal activity across Asia and the South Pacific, driven by rapid digital adoption and organized crime syndicates.

Key Points

• Interpol reports that 6.5 billion cyber threats were mitigated across the region in 2024, with over 10,000 online scams reported in one-third of surveyed countries.
• Ransomware attacks reached 135,000 in 2024, while distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks saw a 92% annual increase.
• Discussions regarding deepfakes on regional cybercrime forums surged by 600% between February and June 2024.
• Phishing click rates in the region are double the global average, with cloud applications serving as the primary target for attackers.
• System intrusions caused 80% of data breaches, with malware and ransomware appearing in the majority of these security incidents.

Why it Matters

The rapid digital transformation in Southeast Asia has outpaced the implementation of robust security frameworks, leaving organizations vulnerable to sophisticated, globally interconnected criminal networks. This trend necessitates urgent cross-border collaboration and improved intelligence sharing to mitigate significant financial losses and protect critical infrastructure.