Co-opetition: How Collaboration is Strengthening Cybersecurity Defenses in Asia Pacific

By Ananth Lazarus

Have you ever considered how we expect round-the-clock protection at the organizations we work for or the businesses we rely on as customers?

As cyber threats, fueled by advanced technologies, continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, organizations are ramping up defenses. This has created the need for a more robust and comprehensive defense mechanism, resulting in a web of interconnected technologies and partnerships.

Rising investments in cybersecurity across the Asia-Pacific region reflect businesses’ needs for security. IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide estimates that security spending in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) will hit $36 billion in 2024, a 12.3% increase from the previous year. The region’s spending could reach $52 billion by 2027, driven by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8%. In 2024, Australia and India are expected to account for more than 25% of regional cybersecurity spending.

India’s cybersecurity investments have notably increased due to escalating cyber threats and complex risk environments. The 2024-2025 government budget allocates ₹759 crore (approximately $91 million) for cybersecurity, representing a nearly 90% rise from the previous year. This includes ₹238 crore for the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to tackle cybersecurity incidents and ₹551 crore for the IndiaAI Mission, aimed at enhancing AI capabilities, including in cybersecurity applications.

Additionally, according to PwC’s 2024 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey, 99% of Indian businesses have boosted their cybersecurity budgets, with half expecting an increase of 6% to 15% in the coming year. Organizations are focusing on key areas such as cloud security, connected device protection, and zero-trust frameworks to address the growing risks associated with cloud vulnerabilities and hack-and-leak incidents.

This comprehensive investment strategy highlights India’s dedication to bolstering its cybersecurity defenses, enhancing digital resilience, and supporting its technological infrastructure amid a rapidly evolving cyber landscape.

Delivering such comprehensive cybersecurity solutions is highly complex. With cyber threats now powered by artificial intelligence (AI), cybercriminals are leveraging AI for attacks like deepfakes and identity theft, pushing organizations to adopt advanced tools for threat detection, automated remediation, and behavioral analysis.

In the technology ecosystem, the necessity of multiple players—vendors, distributors, system integration, managed security service providers, and resellers — working together to address evolving threats cannot be overstated.

Co-opetition: Collaboration in Cybersecurity

A growing trend in the cybersecurity industry is ‘co-opetition’—a strategic collaboration between competitors to strengthen defenses. As cyber threats become more costly and complex, organizations realize that working together yields more robust defenses. According to IBM’s Cost of Data Breach Report, In India, the average cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of Rs 19.5 crore in the first half of 2024; this marked a 9% increase from the previous year and a staggering 39% rise since 2020.

The cost is only expected to increase, putting pressure on businesses to adopt more collaborative approaches to cybersecurity. Co-opetition, in this context, is not just a trend but a necessity to address the increasing cost and complexity of cyber threats.

Cybersecurity is evolving towards integrated platforms that combine multiple security functions, moving away from fragmented solutions. In this transition, technology distributors, IT resellers, managed service providers (MSPs), and systems integrators are crucial in guiding organizations to select and implement effective solutions.

A notable trend is the rise of ‘co-opetition,’ where competitors join forces to meet customer needs by integrating their products and services. For instance, two competing cybersecurity firms might collaborate to create a more comprehensive threat intelligence platform. This collaborative approach allows vendors to enhance protection through shared threat intelligence and integrated solutions.

IT distributors, by partnering with managed security service providers (MSSPs), deliver tailored, multi-vendor cybersecurity solutions that address challenges across various infrastructures. They are also crucial in facilitating Proof of Concepts (PoCs) by acting as intermediaries between vendors and MSPs. By sharing best practices, and providing necessary resources, they help enable effective evaluations of security solutions while addressing specific business and use cases. This streamlines end-users’ adoption of advanced cybersecurity technologies.

IT distributors also play a crucial role in uniting best-in-class vendor offerings. Partnering with MSSPs, they curate multi-vendor solutions tailored to customer needs. These collaborative efforts enable organizations to address security challenges across diverse endpoints and infrastructures.

What Lies Ahead: Co-opetition a Strategic Advantage in Cybersecurity

Comprehensive platforms, co-opetition, and emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing will define the future of cybersecurity. As these technologies evolve, the threat landscape will grow more complex, making it essential for vendors and channel partners to collaborate.

Co-opetition will continue to be a key driver of innovation, enabling companies to pool their resources and knowledge to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. This approach allows organizations to better protect their assets, customers, and partners, shifting from reactive to proactive defense strategies.

Emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing will further complicate cybersecurity, heightening the need for vendors and partners to work together. Co-opetition will help them navigate these challenges by enabling the sharing of resources, expertise, and threat intelligence, ultimately resulting in more robust, more adaptable security solutions.

In this context, co-opetition is not only a strategic advantage today but will become a necessity for the future of cybersecurity. As businesses prioritize cybersecurity education, process improvement, and technological advancement, collaboration between competitors will be a powerful tool to ensure resilience.

(The author is Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director, APAC, Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), and the views expressed in this article are his own)