As IoT adoption accelerates and cross-border supply chains deepen, the region faces escalating risks from fragmented regulations, AI-driven malware, and legacy infrastructure gaps. Traditional prevention models are faltering against sophisticated, fast-moving threats. Instead, governments and enterprises are shifting toward containment-first frameworks—rapid isolation of compromised nodes, segmented supply chain networks, and resilient recovery protocols. This reckoning reflects Southeast Asia’s dual reality: digital economies expanding at breakneck speed, yet exposure widening. By embracing containment as the new prevention, the region positions itself not to eliminate breaches, but to survive and adapt within them.

Following the case of Singapore’s pivot in 2025–2026 toward containment-first cybersecurity, perhaps there is merit in treating containment as the new paradigm.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, Kenny Ng, Head of Network Business Division, APAC, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, offers his perspective on how containment is the new prevention.

1. Given that third-party digital partners were the primary attack vector in 2025, what is the most effective way to enforce "never trust, always verify" without crippling operational efficiency?
2. Beyond multi-factor authentication, what specific contextual factors—such as device posture, time of access, and requested application—should enterprises use to dynamically grant vendors the least privilege required?
3. For Operational Technology environments, which are often air-gapped or rely on legacy systems, how can enterprises practically implement micro-segmentation to create containment zones without disrupting critical processes?
4. How do security and operational leaders rigorously define and enforce the boundary between corporate IT network and production OT network to prevent a cross-functional breach?
5. With the mindset of "containment, not prevention," what are the key metrics IT and OT should track to measure their success in limiting the blast radius of a potential incident, rather than just counting blocked attacks?
6. How can organisations redesign their incident response playbooks to prioritise the immediate isolation of compromised segments, thereby containing a threat before it can move laterally?
7. What is the business case for prioritising investment in ZTA over traditional perimeter defences, and how can enterprises demonstrate its ROI to the board through enhanced business continuity and reduced operational risk?
8. As organisations implement ZTA, how can they ensure seamless interoperability between existing security investments and new ZTA-enabling technologies to avoid creating new security gaps?
9. How must the roles and responsibilities of IT and OT security teams evolve and collaborate to manage a unified Zero Trust policy across both corporate and production environments?
10. Looking beyond their own enterprise, how can businesses encourage or mandate the adoption of Zero Trust principles across their entire supply chain to strengthen the collective ecosystem resilience?