Flashpoints | Security

Asian Cybersecurity in the Age of AI and Quantum Computing

AI has changed – perhaps forever – the tone and tenor of discussions at Singapore International Cyber Week, and probably all cyber forums of equal scale.

The ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity, held during Singapore International Cyber Week, Oct. 14, 2026.

It was immediately apparent to habitués of Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) that  this year’s edition – the 11th, which ran from October 12-15 –  was going to be different. Just days before the opening, on October 9, Taira Masaaki, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party’s cybersecurity strategy headquarters, told an emergency party meeting that Japan was in “a state of emergency in cyberspace.” More than 20 major Japanese companies had disclosed attacks in the preceding weeks. A ransomware attack on IDC Frontier, SoftBank’s cloud subsidiary, on October 7 took down systems at 495 companies and local governments. 

It is unclear whether artificial intelligence (AI) directed any of those attacks. However, what was clear was that AI was the frisson that changed – perhaps for good – the tone and tenor of discussions at the plenaries, the closed sessions, and the corridor conversations at SICW. It has perhaps altered permanently the nature of discourse at all cyber forums of equal scale and standing that aspire to similar convening power. 

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It was immediately apparent to habitués of Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) that  this year’s edition – the 11th, which ran from October 12-15 –  was going to be different. Just days before the opening, on October 9, Taira Masaaki, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party’s cybersecurity strategy headquarters, told an emergency party meeting that Japan was in “a state of emergency in cyberspace.” More than 20 major Japanese companies had disclosed attacks in the preceding weeks. A ransomware attack on IDC Frontier, SoftBank’s cloud subsidiary, on October 7 took down systems at 495 companies and local governments. 

It is unclear whether artificial intelligence (AI) directed any of those attacks. However, what was clear was that AI was the frisson that changed – perhaps for good – the tone and tenor of discussions at the plenaries, the closed sessions, and the corridor conversations at SICW. It has perhaps altered permanently the nature of discourse at all cyber forums of equal scale and standing that aspire to similar convening power. 

What follows are thoughts and takeaways on where we should go from here.

Companies With the Power of States

U.S. AI companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic were in the room this year at SICW. It would have been useful to also have had some of the large Chinese AI firms present in order to get a sense of the alternative approaches. But regardless of their country of origin, some of these firms wield the power of........

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