Malaysia Faces Sharp Rise In AI-Driven Cyber Threats, Fortinet Warns

KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 (Bernama) --  Malaysia is facing a sharp rise in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cyber threats, with nearly 50 per cent of organisations reporting incidents involving AI-powered attacks, according to a survey commissioned by global cybersecurity firm Fortinet.

The survey, conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) across 11 Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, found that in Malaysia, 54 per cent of organisations experienced a twofold increase in AI-enabled threats while 24 per cent saw a threefold surge in the past year.

Fortinet Malaysia Country Manager Kevin Wong said cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging AI to develop and launch attacks more quickly and effectively, moving beyond traditional methods 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 told a media briefing today. 

He noted that credential theft has spiked by more than 500 per cent within a year, with AI-powered phishing attacks becoming increasingly targeted and difficult 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 also noted that cyber risk has evolved from being an occasional concern to a constant and ongoing 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.

Meanwhile, Fortinet’s vice president of marketing and communications for Asia /Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Rashish Pandey, said cybersecurity investment in Malaysia remains disproportionately low, with an average of only 15 per cent of IT budgets allocated to cybersecurity, representing 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 survey also found that only 19 per cent of Malaysian organisations are highly confident in their ability to defend against AI-powered attacks, with 27 per cent stating that such threats are outpacing their detection capabilities and 20 per cent admitting they are unable to detect them at all.

Ransomware remains the most frequently encountered threat, reported by 64 per cent of Malaysian respondents. Other common risks include software supply chain attacks (54 per cent), insider threats (52 per cent), cloud vulnerabilities (46 per cent), and phishing (40 per cent).

The survey, conducted between February and April 2025, involved 550 IT and cybersecurity leaders from across the APAC region to assess organisational readiness in the face of escalating AI-enabled threats.

--BERNAMA