Securing the Future: AI, Critical
Infrastructure, and Regulatory
Readiness in the Indo-Pacific

An independent report commissioned by Palo Alto Networks
Warns of Urgent Need for Shared Guardrails as AI
Becomes Essential to Power, Transport, and Public Services

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‘Securing the Future: AI, Critical Infrastructure, and Regulatory Readiness in the Indo-Pacific’ is the first in-depth comparative study of its kind, produced by Protostar Strategy in partnership with Americans Chamber of Commerce and with support from Palo Alto Networks.

The report details how AI is no longer a future threat; it is already the operational core of essential services like power grids, transport systems, and emergency services. While this adoption promises greater efficiency, it also introduces new, dangerous attack surfaces, from poisoned datasets to cascading system failures that can cross borders.

Key findings from the report

Australia is taking a resilience-first approach, but its lack of AI-specific assurance frameworks creates vulnerabilities.

India is seeing rapid AI adoption, but regulatory fragmentation and uneven state capacity are exposing its essential systems.

Indonesia’s innovation and private-sector dynamism are outpacing governance, creating risks of dependency and systemic vulnerability.

Singapore has the region’s most advanced governance model, but its agility needs to become an exportable standard for the rest of the region.

The report emphasises that fragmented national approaches create opportunities for cyber attacks and regulatory arbitrage. It calls for the development of interoperable assurance frameworks, structured public-private co-governance, and the use of platforms like ASEAN, the Quad, and AUKUS to build shared guardrails for AI in critical infrastructure.