- Threats are rising fast, doubling for 54% and tripling for 24% of respondents
- 50% of organisations in Malaysia reported facing AI-powered cyber threats in 2024
Fortinet, the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, has announced the findings of a 2025 IDC survey highlighting how organisations across Malaysia are adopting AI as the frontline of their cyber defence strategy. The IDC study, commissioned by Fortinet, reveals that AI has moved beyond hype to become a critical enabler of speed, accuracy, and scale in security operations, and is now shaping hiring priorities, investment strategies, and the architecture of modern cybersecurity teams.
Kevin Wong, country manager at Fortinet Malaysia, said, “CISOs across Malaysia are entering a more advanced phase of cybersecurity planning—one where AI is not just augmenting defences but influencing how organisations structure teams, allocate budgets, and prioritise threats.”
“At Fortinet, we are helping customers embrace this shift by embedding AI across the platform, enabling faster detection, smarter responses, and more resilient operations as cyber risks become more complex and distributed,” he added.
AI’s growing influence on the cyber landscape
AI is transforming both sides of the cybersecurity equation. For defenders, it offers the potential to automate detection, accelerate response, and scale threat intelligence with unprecedented speed. But the same capabilities are being leveraged by attackers, who are using AI to launch stealthier, faster, and more adaptive attacks.
According to the IDC study, nearly 50% of organisations in Malaysia reported encountering AI-powered cyber threats in the past year. These threats are scaling fast, with a 2X increase reported by 54% of respondents and a 3X increase by 24%. Such attacks are harder to detect and often exploit blind spots in visibility, governance, and internal processes.
AI Adoption accelerates from pilot to production
AI is no longer a future consideration; it is an operational reality. More than nine in ten organisations across Malaysia are already using AI in their security environment. Organisations are rapidly progressing from AI-powered detection to advanced use cases such as automated response, predictive threat modelling, AI-driven incident response, AI-powered threat intelligence, and behavioural analytics.
GenAI is also gaining traction, with adoption focused on light-touch tasks such as running playbooks, updating rules and policies, social engineering detection, writing detection rules, and guided investigations. However, trust in autonomous action remains limited. Use cases like auto-remediation and guided remediation are not widely deployed, signalling that Malaysia is still in the “co-pilot” phase of adoption.
AI skills redefining the security workforce
The shift towards AI-first cybersecurity is reshaping how teams are built. Across Malaysia, the top five cybersecurity roles in demand include security data scientists, threat intelligence analysts, AI security engineers, AI security researchers, and AI-specific incident response professionals. Organisations are no longer just deploying AI tools; they are building their cybersecurity teams around AI capabilities. This reflects a broader trend where the workforce is rapidly evolving to match the pace of technological adoption.
Strategic investments: From infrastructure to intelligence
Cybersecurity budgets are trending upward, with nearly 74% of organisations reporting an increase. However, these increases were mostly less than 5%, suggesting that while budgets are growing, spending remains focused on covering rising operational and talent costs. Organisations appear to be carefully prioritising how and where these limited increases are deployed.
According to the survey, the top five areas of investment over the next 12–18 months include identity security, network security, SASE/Zero Trust, cyber resilience, and cloud-native application protection. This indicates a strategic shift from infrastructure-heavy spending towards more targeted, risk-centric priorities that reflect the evolving threat landscape.
Teams remain under-resourced and overwhelmed
While cybersecurity is gaining executive attention, many teams remain under-resourced and lack dedicated focus. Only 6% of an organisation’s total workforce is allocated to internal IT, and just 13% of that is focused on cybersecurity. Less than one in six organisations have a standalone CISO, and only 6% have purpose-built teams handling security operations and threat hunting.
This lack of specialisation is impacting performance. More than half of respondents cited an overwhelming surge in threats, with additional pressures from tool sprawl and talent retention challenges. Execution suffers as teams struggle with burnout and complexity, reinforcing the need for smarter resourcing models.
Consolidation and convergence become core strategies
As complexity grows, organisations are shifting towards unified cybersecurity frameworks that deliver end-to-end visibility, operational efficiency, and simplified management. Nearly all respondents (96%) are either converging security and networking or evaluating how to do so.
Consolidation is no longer viewed solely as a cost-cutting measure; it is seen as a strategic necessity. Eighty per cent of respondents are actively considering vendor consolidation, driven by benefits such as faster support, cost savings, better integration, and improved security posture.
Simon Piff, research vice-president, IDC Asia-Pacific, said, “The findings of this survey reflect the growing maturity of cybersecurity across the region. Organisations are no longer experimenting with AI, they are embedding it across threat detection, incident response, and team design.”
“This signals a new era of security operations that is smarter, faster, and more adaptive to the evolving risk landscape. AI is fundamentally reshaping how threats are identified, prioritised, and acted upon, and this evolution demands a parallel shift in cybersecurity strategy and talent,” he added.
