KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is grappling with a significant uptick in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cyber threats, with nearly half of all organisations reporting incidents involving AI-powered attacks, according to a new regional survey commissioned by cybersecurity giant Fortinet.
The study, carried out by the International Data Corporation (IDC) across 11 Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets, revealed that 54 per cent of Malaysian organisations experienced a twofold rise in AI-enabled threats, while 24 per cent faced a threefold increase over the past year, Bernama reported.
Fortinet Malaysia country manager Kevin Wong said malicious actors are increasingly turning to AI to design and launch sophisticated attacks more efficiently than ever, replacing the traditional approach of manual coding.
“To give a sense of scale, there are up to 36,000 scam attempts occurring every second through automation, with 97 billion exploitation attempts recorded in the first half of last year alone, and AI is amplifying this trend by two to three times.
“In Malaysia, the surge in AI-driven threats is evident, with over 100 billion records stolen and traded on the dark web according to IDC,” he said during a media briefing on Wednesday.
He added that credential theft has jumped by more than 500 per cent in a year, with AI-powered phishing tactics becoming increasingly precise and harder to detect.
“Traditional tools simply can’t keep up, as fast-paced, AI-powered threats demand an equally fast and intelligent response, and that’s where AI also plays a role on the defensive side,” he said.
Wong stressed that cyber risk is no longer a sporadic issue, but a persistent and evolving challenge.
“With the rise of AI-powered threats, the nature of cyber risk itself has changed from something we respond to after it happens to something we must act on before it occurs. That is why we partnered with IDC, to better understand how security leaders across Asia are navigating this evolving threat landscape, the challenges they face, and the critical gaps in organisational readiness,” he said.
Fortinet’s vice president of marketing and communications for Asia, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Rashish Pandey, observed that cybersecurity spending in Malaysia remains modest, with only 15 per cent of IT budgets earmarked for security — amounting to just over 1 per cent of total revenue.
“The reason cybersecurity investment remains low is that we still struggle to clearly articulate its business impact to executive teams and boards of directors. Too often, the conversation is framed in technical terms, whereas boards are looking for a discussion centred on business risk, impact, and assessment, which is why we are helping our customers reframe cybersecurity as a strategic business issue rather than just a technical one,” he said.
The findings also indicated a lack of confidence among Malaysian firms in handling AI-driven attacks. Only 19 per cent expressed high confidence in their ability to defend against such threats, while 27 per cent said these threats are outpacing their detection capabilities, and 20 per cent admitted they cannot detect them at all.
Ransomware continues to be the most common cyber threat reported by Malaysian respondents (64 per cent), followed by software supply chain attacks (54 per cent), insider threats (52 per cent), cloud vulnerabilities (46 per cent), and phishing (40 per cent).
Conducted between February and April 2025, the survey drew responses from 550 IT and cybersecurity professionals across the APAC region to evaluate how organisations are coping with the rise of AI-enabled cyber risks. – May 29, 2025