Thailand’s NCSA Orders Cybersecurity Overhaul Across 20 Ministries

According to a report by Prachachat Business, the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) has issued an official directive to the permanent secretaries of 20 Thai ministries. The agency has identified approximately 24,000 government systems, many dating back to 2011, that currently pose significant cybersecurity risks.

Air Vice Marshal Amorn Chomchoey, head of the NCSA, stated that these legacy systems require an immediate transition to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). The directive specifically cautions against relying solely on the 'ThaiD' identity verification system for these older platforms, noting that such reliance could lead to system instability or crashes. Furthermore, ministries have been instructed to identify and decommission any digital services that are no longer in active use to reduce the overall attack surface.

For residents and travelers, this initiative is primarily an internal administrative measure aimed at securing government infrastructure. While it may lead to temporary maintenance or service interruptions for certain public-facing government portals as they undergo these security upgrades, it is intended to protect sensitive data in the long term. It remains to be confirmed how quickly each ministry will comply with these directives and whether specific public services will experience downtime during the transition to MFA protocols.