This report examines the vulnerability of emerging economies across the Indo-Pacific and Latin America in the face of economic cyber espionage. The focus has been on investigating perspectives on the threat of economic cyber espionage and the degree to which major emerging economies are prepared to respond.

A nation’s ability to defend against economic cyber espionage demands the coming together of different policy strands, ranging from national security, economic development, international trade and investment to cybersecurity and broader concepts of national resilience. Finding the right balance is a challenge, and for most of the emerging economies studied in this report, that will remain a long-term endeavour.

The report considers Chinese and US perspectives in the first instance, recognising their criticality to the effectiveness of any international norm. It goes on to assess the level of vulnerability across Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. These economies in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America were identified as experiencing some of the world’s most rapid knowledge and innovation production. Each country has been assessed and given a risk label indicating its vulnerability based on a diagnostic tool.