Southeast Asia is accelerating its digital transformation at breakneck speed. Local governments are investing in sovereign cloud infrastructure, AI platforms, and digital public services, betting on technology as the next engine of economic growth.
However, this leap has made the region more vulnerable. According to a 2024 threatscape report by Positive Technologies, 67% of all cyber incidents in Southeast Asia over the past two years occurred in 2023 alone. The same report also notes that 92% of cyberattacks in the region targeted organisations, with only 8% directed at individuals.
In the race to digitise, cybersecurity has lagged behind, leaving governments and organisations exposed to cybercriminals and state-aligned actors.
The risks are most visible in email, the most foundational layer of digital operations and a preferred entry point for sophisticated attacks. Kaspersky reported nearly 900 million phishing attempts globally in 2024, with Southeast Asia experiencing a disproportionate number of successful breaches. Financial phishing, in particular, has increased in the region, according to SecurityBrief Asia.
One of the most costly and under-recognised threats is business email compromise (BEC), which often begins with a stolen password. Fortinet’s 2025 Global Threat Landscape Report found that more than 1.7 billion usernames and passwords were traded on darknet forums in 2024, five times more than the previous year. These credentials enable scammers to impersonate executives, reroute payments, and exploit institutional trust.
To respond effectively, Southeast Asia needs more than firewalls or filters. It requires a strategic rethink of email infrastructure, cyber resilience, and the technologies we choose to trust.
Rethinking email as infrastructure
In most institutions, email still flies under the radar; essential, but rarely viewed as strategic infrastructure. Yet in a region like Southeast Asia, where digital systems now underpin public services, regulatory communication, and national policy, email is more than just another software layer.
Across Southeast Asia, email has become a key component of national infrastructure. In Indonesia, the Supreme Court uses secure email systems to support communication and case management in line with local data sovereignty requirements. In Thailand, financial regulators and banks rely on secure email to confirm transactions and fulfil audit and compliance obligations. In the Philippines, government platforms use email to underpin digital identity programmes and communicate safely with citizens through encrypted messages.
Email also plays a vital role in education. In countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, where universities are spread across islands and provinces, secure email protects student records and enables smoother collaboration on research. It is more than just an administrative tool; email helps institutions remain trustworthy, stable, and connected.
Experience across these industries has shown that a single breach in any of these environments doesn’t just disrupt operations, it destabilises them. It is time organisations reframe email not as a productivity tool, but as mission-critical infrastructure built for security, resilience, and sovereignty.
Closing the sovereignty gap
In Southeast Asia, there is a widening gap between digital ambition and control over infrastructure. Many public institutions, financial regulators and universities still depend on platforms hosted abroad, subject to foreign laws and often misaligned with local compliance standards. This dependency weakens sovereignty and introduces long-term operational risk.
Several governments in the region have begun to act. In the Philippines, regulators have proposed mandatory local data storage for government platforms and critical services. Indonesia enforces digital sovereignty through a set of laws that require many public and private operators to store data domestically, maintain local jurisdiction over digital activities, and register with national authorities. Thailand’s central bank has issued guidance calling on financial institutions to retain control over data, including when it is handled by third parties.
These are not isolated policies but part of a broader regional shift toward sovereignty and accountability. What Southeast Asia needs are platforms that support data localisation, offer transparent system architecture, and can adapt to local regulations. This is not about nationalism; it is sound risk management in a geopolitical landscape where control over data is critical to national security and public trust.
Investing in institutional resilience
Technology alone will not solve the problem. Defending the inbox requires more than just filters and patches; it demands institutional resilience across sectors.
In government agencies, that means embedding cyber hygiene in procurement and civil service workflows. In financial institutions, it entails implementing layered security protocols that detect BEC attempts before they escalate. In education, collaboration with administrators is critical to securing faculty communications and maintaining academic integrity in hybrid learning environments. It also means building human readiness: training frontline staff to identify impersonation attempts, embedding incident response into daily routines, and designing systems that are resilient by default.
Public-private partnerships must go beyond licensing. They work best when providers and institutions co-design solutions. The most resilient outcomes come from platforms shaped around local regulations, operational workflows, and real-world use cases. Customisation and collaboration are critical to staying ahead of today’s threats.
Redefining readiness
Southeast Asia is not starting from scratch, but the region is at a turning point. The foundations are in place: capable institutions, growing technical talent, and a rising awareness of digital sovereignty.
What is needed now is a shift in mindset. Email must be recognised as critical infrastructure and secured with the right combination of technology, policy support, and institutional coordination.
Readiness today requires both trust and tools. It means choosing systems that are localised, resilient, and developed in close partnership with those who understand the regional threat landscape.
Across Southeast Asia, institutions are already taking this step — deploying secure, sovereign systems aligned with national compliance and operational requirements.
The path forward isn’t about catching up; it’s about choosing to lead.
