This announcement follows the meeting in January 2025 between Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, executives from MDES and NCSA, and Google Cloud’s Asia Pacific leadership to explore deeper cybersecurity collaboration. It also builds on the government and Google’s ongoing collaboration to strengthen Thailand’s digital competitiveness and accelerate AI innovation.
Prasert Jantararuangtong, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society, said: “Strengthening cybersecurity and combating online scams are paramount and urgent priorities for the government, especially as organizations and individuals increasingly embrace digital innovation. We commend Google for its proactive and continuous efforts in collaborating with us to safeguard citizens online through its cyber literacy programs and implementation of enhanced anti-scam features in Google Play Protect on Android devices. We’re delighted to be deepening our partnership with Google. This collaboration will involve NCSA joining forces with Google Cloud, leveraging its industry-leading security operations expertise to develop cutting-edge, national-level solutions that enhance our country’s cyber resilience.”
Amorn Chomchoey, Secretary General, National Cyber Security Agency (Thailand), said: “In line with our belief that robust cyber defense requires a combination of skilled talent and the right technology, we’ve been providing training programs and toolkits to help state entities and enterprises improve their cybersecurity posture. Building on these initiatives, our partnership with Google Cloud will be a significant force multiplier. Best-in-class capabilities like Google Cloud Cybershield will augment our existing solutions while Mandiant will serve as an extension of our expert teams. Collectively, this will reinforce our capacity to stay ahead of future cyber threats and maintain a safe digital space for all Thais.”
A coordinated national cyber defense strategy
NCSA plans to deploy Google Cloud Cybershield, which combines automation, analytics, threat intelligence, and AI, for centralized monitoring of security events across public sector entities. This will enable the Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT), NCSA’s national cyber defense center, to undertake a more coordinated and streamlined response to potential cyber threats targeting government agencies and critical national infrastructure.
The collaboration will also cover:
- Threat intelligence: Google Cloud and NCSA will engage in threat intelligence sharing to support government-wide cyber defense operations. This includes NCSA being provided with access to Google Threat Intelligence, which includes Mandiant‘s frontline threat intelligence and VirusTotal‘s threat database. This will enrich the government’s understanding of new and prevalent tactics, techniques, and procedures used by cybercriminals and state-sponsored actors targeting public sector entities.
- Incident response expertise: Mandiant consultants will provide specialized hands-on training in areas like incident response, digital forensics, and malware analysis to qualified information security professionals from public sector entities selected by NCSA. These professionals will be equipped with skills to rapidly detect, triage, and respond to sophisticated threats and intrusion scenarios, expanding the pool of cyber defense experts within Thailand’s public sector while reinforcing its readiness to combat future cyber challenges.
Beyond national cyber defense, the collaboration will further enhance online safety for individual users. NCSA and Google Cloud plan to integrate Google Cloud Web Risk into government workflows to protect Thai citizens and residents from online scam and phishing websites.
Web Risk APIs will provide the government with real-time threat intelligence on sites that host malware or other types of unsafe web resources. This information will be used to augment NCSA’s existing capabilities, enabling its teams to evaluate a higher volume of websites, proactively block user access to dangerous URLs, warn users about unsafe links, and prevent the spread of harmful content.
Web Risk utilizes the same advanced AI models that power Google Safe Browsing. These models evaluate more than 10 billion URLs and files daily to identify those that violate Safe Browsing policies, adding them to a threat intelligence repository and blocklist that protects more than five billion devices within minutes.
Annop Siritikul, Country Director, Thailand, Google Cloud, said: “Thailand’s digital economy is set to grow from US$46 billion in 2024 to at least US$100 billion by 2030. At Google Cloud, we believe we can contribute meaningfully toward the collective cyber defense that’s required to safeguard this future growth. We look forward to partnering deeply with MDES and NCSA to deliver scalable, next-generation cybersecurity solutions. By bringing together Mandiant’s frontline threat intelligence and expertise with Google Cloud’s AI advancements for security, we’ll continue to help governments around the world supercharge security operations and respond holistically to keep their citizens and critical assets safe.”
Enhanced mobile security measures to combat call-based scams
During Safer Songkran in 2024, MDES and Google established Thailand as one of the first countries globally to implement a new anti-scam feature in Google Play Protect. This feature has since blocked more than 6.6 million installation attempts of potentially malicious apps from internet-sideloading sources on more than 1.4 million Android devices in Thailand.
Further reinforcing its commitment to online safety, Google has implemented additional mobile security measures in conjunction with this year’s Safer Songkran. By default, the toggle switch for turning off Play Protect’s app scanning feature will now be disabled during standard phone calls, as well as voice and video calls within popular third-party apps. These new measures directly combat the rise of cybercriminals using social engineering tactics during calls with users to deceive them into turning off Play Protect to download malicious apps from internet-sideloading sources.
Safer Songkran is a Safer with Google initiative that equips Thais with essential knowledge and tools to protect themselves against online scams and phishing.
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Ms. Su Ann Lim, Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Southeast Asia Cluster, Google Cloud
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Mr. Eric Hoh, Director, Asia Pacific, Google Cloud Security
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Mr. Annop Siritikul, Country Director, Thailand, Google Cloud
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Mr. Prasert Jantararuangtong, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society
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Air Vice Marshal Amorn Chomchoey, Secretary General, National Cyber Security Agency (Thailand)
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Major General Teerawut Wittayakorn, Deputy Secretary General, National Cyber Security Agency (Thailand)
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Ms. Saichon Saelee, Director of Cyber Coordination Office and Acting Director of Operations Office, National Cyber Security Agency (Thailand)
