The cybersecurity industry in Thailand continues to grow, though a skills shortage is leading to cyber breaches, says industry firm Fortinet.
"The expansion of the cybersecurity attack surface and regulatory compliance requirements are driving continued investment in cybersecurity, despite economic challenges. As a result, the cybersecurity industry in Thailand continues to grow at a double-digit rate, albeit via cautious investment strategies," said Pakthapa Chatkomes, country manager of Fortinet Thailand.
The government, financial service infrastructure and manufacturing sectors are among the top spenders on cybersecurity solutions.
Moreover, small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly embracing cybersecurity and opting to subscribe to security operations centre-as-a-service because it offers low service fees, according to Fortinet.
In the first half of this year, advanced persistent threats were pronounced, referring to an attack that continues secretively, using innovative hacking methods to access a system and stay inside for a long period of time.
The threat targeted the retail, government, aerospace and defence, manufacturing, technology and telecom sectors.
Ransomware attacks also continued in the retail, manufacturing, education and construction sectors, noted the firm.
Rattipong Putthacharoen, senior manager for systems engineering at Fortinet Thailand, said the nation's rapidly growing digital economy has made it a prime target for sophisticated cyberthreats.
According to the company's 2024 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report conducted among 1,850 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers, of which 50 are in Thailand, 72% of Thai organisations indicated the cybersecurity skills shortage adds risks to their operations.
Some 68% of Thai organisations suffered one or more security breach last year, and 79% of cyber-attacks were malware and phishing.
Meanwhile, 69% of respondents said security breaches cost them more than US$1million, increasing from 56% of respondents in 2022 and 26% in 2021.
Thai respondents said the average time to recover from a cyber-attack is 4.3 months, higher than the global average of 2.7 months.
Moreover, corporate leaders are increasingly being held accountable for security incidents, with 56% of the respondents in Thailand noting that directors or executives faced fines or lost their jobs following a cyber-attack.
Around 82% of the respondents said boards of Thai companies were more focused on cybersecurity in 2024 than the previous year.
In terms of the skills shortage, the posts of cloud security and security operations remain the hardest to fill.
Globally, an estimated 4 million professionals are needed to fill the gap in the cybersecurity workforce. Fortinet wants to help close this gap to 1 million by 2026.
The company signed memoranda of understanding with 12 institutions in Thailand to promote cybersecurity skill development.