ASEAN Foundation, an intergovernmental organisation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), partnered with Mastercard to improve the cyber resilience of public sector entities and SMEs.

Mastercard on Friday announced it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ASEAN Foundation to support?cybersecurity initiatives across the bloc’s member states.

The partners aim to empower public entities and small businesses by raising awareness about cyber incidents, providing cybersecurity skills and associated training, and improving their protection capacity through technology and intelligence.

The ASEAN Foundation-Mastercard Cybersecurity Resilience Program consists of several separate initiatives:

• Cybersecurity workshops, webinars, and other events on related topics for SMEs;
• Access to the Mastercard Trust Center, an online self-service portal with free educational resources and cybersecurity tools;
• Rollout of Mastercard’s My Cyber Risk tool which allows businesses to identify vulnerabilities in their operations and act on detected cybersecurity threats;
• Cybersecurity webinars for public sector professionals in cybersecurity-related roles;
• Crisis simulation exercises for public sector representatives;
• Research reports and risk assessment tools for ASEAN governments, and more.

The new program is part of ASEAN’s ongoing efforts to achieve a digital economy vision in a secure and resilient way. Regional investment in cybersecurity has been growing 14% annually since 2021. However, investments alone are not enough to tackle the region’s fast-growing cybercrime, which increased by 82% between 2021 and 2022.

Mastercard has earlier collaborated with a few cyber resilience initiatives in the region like the United Nations Development Program’s Global Coalition Against Digital Scams, the Global Anti Scam Alliance,?the joint FlexiMasters program in cybersecurity and digital trust with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, and the Indosat-Mastercard Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Indonesia.

“Enhancing cybersecurity capacity and expertise is necessary to navigate today’s rapidly evolving digital threats and build a strong digital economy. This significant collaboration with the ASEAN Foundation to strengthen cybersecurity capabilities throughout Southeast Asia underscores Mastercard’s commitment to bolster trust in the digital world. By delivering impactful initiatives for both public sector and SMEs, this collaboration will contribute towards a secure, resilient digital ecosystem for all participants, enabling countless new opportunities for individuals and businesses, and accelerating inclusive growth in Southeast Asia.”

Safdar Khan, division president, Southeast Asia, Mastercard

Last year, Mastercard acquired the cloud-based cybersecurity company Baffin Bay Networks to improve its resiliency against cyber-attacks with the new AI ‘Cyber Shield’. In addition, only a month ago, it acquired a threat intelligence company to boost insights and intelligence capabilities with real-time visibility into potential threats, AI and other best-in-class technologies.