A new report has warned that the Indo-Pacific region faces rising security vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes deeply embedded in essential sectors such as energy, transport, and emergency services.
Released by Protostar Strategy in collaboration with the American Chambers of Commerce in Australia, India, Indonesia, and Singapore, and supported by Palo Alto Networks, the study titled Securing the Future: AI, Critical Infrastructure, and Regulatory Readiness in the Indo-Pacific highlights the urgent need for coordinated action. It finds that while AI adoption has delivered improvements in efficiency and resilience, it has also created new risks including data manipulation, system interference, and the potential for cascading technical failures across interconnected systems.
Dr Tobias Feakin, the report’s author and former Australian Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, said that governments must act quickly to safeguard these emerging systems. “AI now sits inside the machinery of daily life. The question is no longer if it will be used to run these systems, but whether governments will secure it in time,” he said. “The Indo-Pacific is on the frontlines of both digital adoption and geopolitical rivalry. Without a unified approach, countries risk creating gaps that sophisticated cyber actors can exploit. If they can converge, they will not only secure their own resilience but shape the standards that others will follow.”
Regional readiness remains uneven
Drawing insights from high-level workshops with policymakers and industry leaders across Australia, India, Indonesia, and Singapore, the report outlines distinct national approaches and challenges. Australia is prioritising resilience but still lacks AI-specific assurance frameworks. India’s rapid adoption of AI is hindered by fragmented regulations and uneven state capacity, which leave essential systems exposed. Indonesia’s dynamic innovation landscape and strong private sector are advancing faster than governance mechanisms, creating potential dependencies and systemic vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Singapore stands out for its proactive and exportable governance model, which the report suggests could serve as a benchmark for other countries in the region.
Dr Hsien-Hsien Lei, Chief Executive Officer of AmCham Singapore, noted Singapore’s role in driving regional standards. “AmChamSG member companies appreciate that Singapore’s leadership in AI and cybersecurity places it in a prime position to spearhead the regional harmonisation of standards, ensuring that progress in technology doesn’t outpace our ability to secure it,” she said.
Building shared frameworks for resilience
The report calls for governments and industry leaders across the Indo-Pacific to move from awareness to coordinated action. It stresses that fragmented national efforts create opportunities for cyber threats and policy inconsistencies that could weaken regional resilience.
Among its recommendations are the creation of interoperable assurance frameworks—covering testing, evaluation, verification, and validation—that can be voluntarily adopted and integrated into existing sectoral standards. The report also advocates cross-sector collaboration between public and private stakeholders to share threat intelligence, refine incident response, and continually update best practices. Additionally, it encourages leveraging existing regional platforms such as ASEAN and the Quad to develop scalable, trusted, and exportable approaches that support both security and open markets.
Nicole Quinn, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Palo Alto Networks, said the report provides an important foundation for future cooperation. “Palo Alto Networks is proud to have commissioned this independent report,” she said. “We believe it provides a vital framework for policymakers and industry leaders to collaborate on a path forward. We look forward to contributing to ongoing discussions about the secure and responsible deployment of AI for critical infrastructure and governments across the Indo-Pacific.”
