BlackBerry Experts Urge Cybersecurity as Top Priority Amid Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship
During the Asia International Security Summit & Expo (AISSE) Cybercrime Summit 2025, held on 21st January, CybersecurityAsia.net (CSA) engaged in a thought-provoking conversation with BlackBerry’s Jonathan Jackson, Senior Director, Strategic Technical Sales APAC, and Dr Christoph Erdmann, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of SecuSmart.
The discussion centred on ASEAN’s cybersecurity challenges, particularly in addressing the skill gaps, the role of AI in shaping both defences and threats, and Malaysia’s critical leadership as ASEAN Chair in 2025.
Cybersecurity as a Cornerstone of Malaysia’s Leadership
Malaysia’s role as ASEAN Chair in 2025 provides an opportunity to lead regional efforts in building collective resilience. Jonathan underscored the importance of this leadership, stating, “Malaysia’s goal to grow its digital economy is incredibly important for both the country and the region. However, its ability to achieve this could be significantly hampered by cyber threats.”
He highlighted that regional collaboration is vital in addressing these challenges, stating that sharing best practices amongst member states is a critical strategy to combat the increasingly challenging cyber landscape. “Malaysia’s initiatives, such as establishing a regional Cyber Incident Response Team, demonstrate the country’s commitment to fostering collaboration among member states and bridging gaps in preparedness,” he elaborated.
Jonathan also warns that, as much as the leadership role goes, Malaysia itself must be well-prepared for the evolving cyber threats. “Malaysia is a wealthy country. Financial motivates everybody, and cybercriminals are no different. So unfortunately for Malaysia, you are also a significant target.”
Fundamental areas such as password management, patch management, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing of systems should also not be overlooked, according to Jonathan. “Verifying authenticated users and using simple, readily available technologies can significantly improve security,” he advised. “These basic yet effective measures should remain a strong focus for Malaysia in 2025 and beyond.”
Through BlackBerry’s initiatives, Jonathan brought up the company’s efforts as one of the country’s cybersecurity advisors, collaborating with agencies like the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA), and National Cyber Coordination and Command Centre (NC4) to facilitate conversations about threats, both internal and external. “We deliver quarterly global threat reports, and also provide Malaysia-specific telemetry reports, which we share with the government.”
Fighting AI with AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is both a powerful ally and a formidable adversary in the realm of cybersecurity. Dr Erdmann poetically captured this duality, “AI is like a poison and a cure. Something that works as a vaccine or medicine to cure a disease, in the wrong doses or under the wrong circumstances, can become a deadly poison.”
Dr Erdmann explained how AI brings back old challenges in new forms. “AI brings back things we have seen in the analogue world, things that we thought were ‘old school’. For instance, 20 years ago, people used simple voice imitation to spoof an identity over the phone. Back then, there was no identity built into the system, so people relied on the voice to identify who they were speaking with. Today, with AI, you can use live character imitation to appear in a video conference with someone else’s outfit or appearance. All it takes is a photo and a small voice sample, and what used to require Hollywood-level resources is now possible on a WebEx call.”
Dr Erdmann also brought up the “common sense application” to combat these imitating-natured cyber threats, stating that it’s easier to counter the copycat attempts if you ask the right questions where only you know the answer. But the issue these days, he noted; “Many people share too much information of their lives online, eroding the effectiveness of such safeguards. Preserving and protecting our identities will become one of the biggest challenges moving forward.”
Overall, both experts noted and pressed the issue of the rising AI-generated threats, such as deepfakes, polymorphic malware, and enhanced phishing campaigns. Dr Erdmann warned, “The boundary between digital twins and ourselves is becoming less clear. Preserving and protecting our identities will be one of the biggest challenges moving forward.”
Jonathan stressed the necessity of using AI to counter AI-driven threats. “The reality is that we must use AI to fight AI,” he said. “Humans at the moment are too slow to keep up with the evolving threat landscape, so having a predictive cyber threat mindset is incredibly important. AI plays a pivotal role here because of its predictive capabilities. Machine learning models can be trained to identify attack patterns and detect threats pre-execution. Prevention is absolutely key.”
Outside of the AI, Jonathan also shed light on the ransomware movements in the discussion. “Ransomware is also a significant concern in society today,” he said. “What we need to remember is that ransomware attackers operate like businesses—they’re running cybercrime enterprises, looking for maximum opportunity and profit. They continuously evolve their tactics, including re-extortion, triple extortion, and other strategies.”
The threats are escalating, with reports in 2024 highlighting online fraud as the most reported cyber threat in Malaysia, with over 3,800 incidents, followed by the UN’s report of 100,000 people trafficked through cyber scams in Cambodia. Additionally, Singapore saw a 207% increase in identity fraud attacks compared to the previous year. These alarming trends make addressing cybersecurity a clear priority for ASEAN’s 2025 agenda.
Upskilling as Top Priority to Fulfil Cybersecurity Concerns
Another critical point of discussion was ASEAN’s significant cybersecurity skills gap. Jonathan Jackson highlighted the urgency, pointing out that Malaysia alone faces a shortfall of 12,000 cybersecurity professionals, with an additional 25,000 needed by 2025.
Malaysia’s declaration of 2025 as the “Year of Skills” reflects its commitment to addressing this issue. Jonathan shared the progress of the BlackBerry Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Cyberjaya, which has trained nearly 2,000 students and provided over 15,000 hours of training.
Both BlackBerry’s experts praise Malaysia’s efforts to bring the talent pool issues into light, with Jonathan reasoned the urgency by saying that “this isn’t just a technology problem—it’s also a people problem.”
“We can’t just throw technology at this issue, install fancy apps on phones, or invest millions of dollars in technology and expect it to block these types of attacks,” he said. “We’ve got to train and educate people. The skills gap isn’t just in cybersecurity—it’s also in cyber awareness and understanding. Once people are taught how to look for the telltale signs of an AI-generated video, identifying these threats actually becomes quite easy.
The Collaborative Spirit of the AISSE Summit
Both speakers praised the AISSE Cybercrime Summit for fostering meaningful collaboration. Jonathan Jackson highlighted its impact, saying, “The summit brings together law enforcement, policing, intelligence, and representatives from other countries. The discussions have underscored a shared understanding of the goals we’re all trying to achieve.”
Dr Erdmann echoed this sentiment, noting the summit’s global calibre. “The quality of discussions here is on par with global events, and it’s evident that Malaysia is making significant strides in addressing its cybersecurity challenges,” he said.
With initiatives like the CCoE, BlackBerry further expressed its commitment to contributing to Malaysia’s digitalisation agenda by nurturing a robust cybersecurity talent pool. This complements Malaysia’s broader efforts to attract investments and partnerships, as reported last year with EDOTCO’s and Alibaba’s collaborations in IT upskilling in 2024, as well as MDEC’s efforts to push for digital transformation.
