Malaysia-based Axiata Group announced it has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of Cambodia (MPTC) to collaborate on beefing up Cambodia’s cybersecurity landscape, as well as developing cybersecurity talent in the country.
Under the terms of the MoU, Axiata and MPTC will establish a common platform for exchanging information on cyber threats and strategies to increase the effectiveness of incident response, to include cross-border incidents.
Axiata and MPTC will also jointly develop and implement capacity-building programmes to enhance the skills and expertise of cybersecurity professionals within both Axiata and the MPTC.
The MoU also covers bilateral cooperation in knowledge sharing and organising joint trainings, seminars, study visits, conferences, and forums, including those focused on professional certification under Global ACE Certification.
Axiata's Cambodian telco Smart Axiata will support the partnership locally, as it has deep local market expertise. The Axiata Cyber Fusion Center – the group’s cybersecurity centre of excellence opened in 2022 in Petaling Jaya – will also contribute its real-time threat monitoring, proactive hunting, and robust protection capabilities to support the MPTC’s objectives, said Axiata Group CEO and MD Vivek Sood.
“In an increasingly digital world, robust cybersecurity is not just a necessity but a foundational element for sustainable economic growth and societal well-being,” he said in a statement. “This memorandum signifies our deep commitment to advancing Asia's digital frontier by leveraging Axiata's extensive expertise, particularly through the Axiata Cyber Fusion Centre.”
Sam Sethserey, MPTC’s director general of the General Department of ICT, said the MoU with Axiata “marks a new milestone in the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to strengthen cybersecurity in Cambodia focusing on cybersecurity human resources development, cyber threat response, and cybersecurity resilience through a public-private partnership mechanism.”
The MPTC’s tie-up with Axiata comes as Cambodia says it has been seeing an increase in cyberattacks – particularly in the last few months as tensions have spiked between Cambodia and Thailand following a border clash between the two countries in May.
According to various media reports, the Cambodian government has accused hacker groups in Thailand of attacking government websites, while the Thai government has accused Cambodian hackers of attacking government and media websites. Both governments have also warned their respective citizens to beware of “fake news” spreading rumours about the conflict between the two countries.
The conflict has also seen Cambodia and Thailand move to cut internet links between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Cambodia typically ranks low in major cybersecurity readiness indexes. The EU’s National Cyber Security Index ranked Cambodia 120th in the world based on data up to 2023, while the ITU’s latest Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 ranks Cambodia in its fourth tier (out of five) as “evolving”, and several points below the average score for Asia-Pacific.
