Challenges and Opportunities in Establishing An ASEAN Cyber Army as a Cooperative Framework for Digital Crime Enforcement

Abstract

Transnational digital crime particularly online scam networks and ransomware attacks targeting critical national infrastructure has emerged as a systemic threat that far outpaces the capacity of any single ASEAN member state to address through domestic legal frameworks alone. Jurisdictional fragmentation and the absence of a unified regional cybercrime enforcement mechanism have created structural gaps that sophisticated cross-border criminal actors consistently exploit. This study aims to examine the jurisdictional barriers impeding the pursuit of mobile online scam perpetrators across ASEAN member states, as well as to assess the urgency of establishing a regional cyber command as a collective response to ransomware threats against critical infrastructure. Employing a normative juridical methodology, this research systematically analyses international legal instruments, bilateral and multilateral ASEAN agreements, and the domestic cybersecurity regulatory frameworks of member states. The findings reveal that state sovereignty principles, divergent legal traditions, and the absence of comprehensive extradition treaties constitute the primary structural impediments to effective regional cybercrime enforcement coordination. This study proposes a legal framework for the establishment of an ASEAN Joint Cyber Task Force as a form of collective cyber defence, one that reconciles the non-interference principle with the operational demands of coordinated cross-border cyber operations. The proposed framework carries significant implications for the development of an adaptive, sovereignty-respecting, and legally coherent ASEAN cybersecurity architecture.