Gemalto says a key challenge for the region is the 'lack of awareness on the importance of IT security as well as the shortage of IT security personnel and related resources'.

Ng Fook Seng, Gemalto's Asia Senior Vice-President, Security Business, said the Asia Pacific market was facing constant digital security threats, and this was coupled with the fast growing adoption for online banking. More than 25 per cent of retail customers are banking online, and there is more than a 21 per cent annual average growth of active e-banking users.

Ng said that, despite this, emerging countries, such as China and India are 'still premature in developing IT security measures'.

"In the Asia Pacific, digital security is driven from a business perspective rather than via regulatory laws or standards set in the industry," he said. "Moreover, the benefit of implementing digital security is not apparent in the short run. Hence, one of our major challenges would be to get our customers educated on the severity of cyber fraud, and the need to combat these threats."

From phishing, identity-thefts to hacking, Ng said that security threats were imminent as the frequency of digital transactions grows in our daily lives.