Over 65% of Asia-Pacific firms view the rapid pace of AI development, particularly in generative AI, as the leading security concern related to its adoption. Also seen as major concerns are lack of integrity (63%) and trustworthiness (55%).
These are from the latest report from Thales, which was based on a survey conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research. Respondents include more than 3,100 IT and security professionals in 20 countries across 15 industries. In APAC, the markets surveyed were Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Results reveal a major focus on the transformative impact of AI, especially generative AI, which relies heavily on high-quality, sensitive data for functions like training, inference, and content generation.
As agentic AI emerges, ensuring data quality becomes even more critical for enabling sound decision-making and actions by AI systems. Many organizations are already adopting generative AI. Among APAC respondents, 34% indicate it is either being integrated or is actively transforming their operations.
As generative AI introduces complex data security challenges and offers strategic opportunities to strengthen defenses, its growing integration marks a shift among organizations from experimentation to more mature, operational deployment.
While most APAC respondents said rapid adoption of generative AI is their top security concern, respondents in the more advanced stages of AI adoption aren’t waiting to fully secure their systems or optimize their tech stacks before forging ahead.
Because the drive to achieve rapid transformation often outweighs efforts to strengthen organizational readiness, these organizations may inadvertently be creating their own biggest security vulnerabilities.
“The fast-evolving generative AI landscape is pressuring enterprises to move quickly, sometimes at the cost of caution, as they race to stay ahead of the adoption curve,” said Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research.
“Many enterprises are deploying generative AI faster than they can fully understand their application architectures, compounded by the rapid spread of SaaS tools embedding generative AI capabilities, adding layers of complexity and risk,” said Hanselman.
Among respondents, 72% report investing in AI-specific security tools, either through new budgets or by reallocating existing resources.
Those prioritizing AI security in APAC are diversifying their approaches — 68% have acquired tools from their cloud providers, 62% are leveraging established security vendors, and 47% are turning to new or emerging startups.
While data breaches remain a significant concern, their frequency has slightly decreased compared to last year. About 47% of surveyed APAC enterprises reported experiencing a breach, compared to 48% last year.
Additionally, the percentage of respondents reporting a breach within the last 12 months has fallen to 14% this year, compared to 16% from last year.
The top three most prevalent threats in APAC include malware at 50%, ransomware at 39% and phishing at 37%. Among the most concerning threat actors, hacktivists and financially motivated malicious insiders are seen as the leading sources of risk.
