Thailand’s National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) and Google Cloud are collaborating to bolster the cyber resilience of the country’s digital landscape, in conjunction with Safer Songkran, a Safer with Google initiative.
Safer Songkran is a Safer with Google initiative that equips Thais with essential knowledge and tools to protect themselves against online scams and phishing.
This collaboration will leverage AI and intelligence-driven cyber defence, enabling public sector entities and citizens to continue realising the benefits of digital transformation while protecting them against cybercrime and malicious cyber attacks.
The NCSA and Google Cloud collaboration complements ongoing efforts by the Royal Thai Government and Google to enhance online safety for mobile users in Thailand.
According to Google, its anti-scam feature within Google Play Protect, launched in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) in 2024, has blocked more than 6.6 million high-risk app installation attempts to date.
In addition, Google has unveiled enhanced mobile security measures to further protect Thais against social engineering tactics employed by cybercriminals.
Amorn Chomchoey, Secretary General of NCSA, National Cyber Security Agency (Thailand), said: capabilities like Google Cloud Cybershield will augment the government’s existing solutions while Mandiant will serve as an extension of their expert teams.
Further, the collaboration is intended to further enhance online safety for individual users.
NCSA and Google Cloud plan to integrate Google Cloud Web Risk into government workflows to protect Thai citizens and residents from online scam and phishing websites.
Web Risk APIs will provide the government with real-time threat intelligence on sites that host malware or other types of unsafe web resources.
This information will be used to augment NCSA’s existing capabilities, enabling its teams to evaluate a higher volume of websites, proactively block user access to dangerous URLs, warn users about unsafe links, and prevent the spread of harmful content.
“By bringing together Mandiant’s frontline threat intelligence and expertise with Google Cloud’s AI advancements for security, we’ll continue to help governments around the world supercharge security operations and respond holistically to keep their citizens and critical assets safe,” said Annop Siritikul, Google Cloud country director for Thailand.
During Safer Songkran in 2024, MDES and Google established Thailand as one of the first countries globally to implement a new anti-scam feature in Google Play Protect.
This feature has since blocked more than 6.6 million installation attempts of potentially malicious apps from internet-sideloading sources on more than 1.4 million Android devices in Thailand.
Further reinforcing its commitment to online safety, Google has implemented additional mobile security measures in conjunction with this year’s Safer Songkran.
By default, the toggle switch for turning off Play Protect’s app scanning feature will now be disabled during standard phone calls, as well as voice and video calls within popular third-party apps.
These new measures directly combat the rise of cybercriminals using social engineering tactics during calls with users to deceive them into turning off Play Protect to download malicious apps from internet-sideloading sources.
