Cybersecurity budgets set to expand further in Asia: PwC

Corporate focus on cybersecurity has deepened over the years in Asia-Pacific. In most companies, cybersecurity budgets are set to expand further in 2024, reflecting its sustained place as an essential investment priority for organisations across the region.

That is according to a report by PwC titled “Cybersecurity in Asia-Pacific: Rising threats and Gen-AI adoption” published in May.

The report notes that Asia-Pacific’s security spending has steadily grown at a compound annual growth rate of 12.8 percent since 2022, and is expected to top out at $52 billion by 2027 as multiple cyber threats bear down on digitising companies.

According to the 2024 edition of PwC’s annual “Digital Trust Insights” survey, 84 percent of Asia-Pacific business and tech executives reported increases in their cyber budgets. These insights were gleaned from a survey of 683 business, technology and security executives in Asia-Pacific conducted by PwC between May and June 2023. The survey comprised technology and business perspectives from a wide variety of industries and sectors.

“Scrutiny on cybersecurity issues is intensifying.”

The number of mega breaches experienced by Asia-Pacific organisations in the past three years has risen considerably: in 2023, 35 percent of organisations say they have experienced data breaches costing anywhere from $1 to $20 million over the last three years.

Cybersecurity was considered solely a technology area in earlier years, but mounting financial and non-financial costs are revealing its immense relevance to business as a whole. As such, scrutiny on cybersecurity issues is intensifying, as evidenced by 95 percent of organisations saying they are bringing reporting on cyber risk exposure and mitigation measures to their boards, the report said.

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