Cyber Threats to Nuclear Facilities: Is the Asia-Pacific Ready?

17 Aug 2026 | APLN

17 August 2026

In our latest update, we welcome Ambassador Pou Sothirak and Sione Tekiteki as our newest APLN members. We also feature a commentary by Ali Alkis on why governments across the Asia-Pacific must strengthen cyber resilience to ensure that nuclear facilities can operate safely and respond effectively to cyber disruptions.

Our weekly roundup of member activities covers analysis on middle power momentum, the limits and risks of nuclear deterrence, the bilateral relations between Viet Nam and Australia, and more.

We are delighted to welcome two new members to our network:

Ambassador Pou Sothirak is a Distinguished Senior Adviser to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies (CCRS). He served as Cambodia’s Ambassador to Japan from 2005 to 2009 and was Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy from 1993 to 1998.

Sione Tekiteki is a Pacific international relations and legal scholar, practitioner and former regional diplomat with over two decades of experience in Pacific regionalism and regional security. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Law and Pacific Lead at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), and previously served at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and as Clerk of the Parliament of Tonga.

See all members

Building Nuclear Cyber Resilience in the Asia-Pacific

As more countries across the Asia-Pacific develop or consider nuclear power, cybersecurity is becoming a critical concern. Ali Alkis examines three areas of vulnerability: the challenges of modernising older systems, risks across complex supply chains, and human and organisational weaknesses. He further proposes four practical priorities for governments to strengthen cyber resilience, and explores how regional cooperation could help countries share expertise and respond more effectively to cyber incidents.

Read the commentary

APLN has over 180 members from 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Each week, we feature their latest contributions
to global and regional security debates.

See all member activities

Why New Zealand and ASEAN must build middle power momentum

Cheng-Chwee Kuik, Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, wrote for Asia New Zealand Foundation and argued that to address global challenges and mounting uncertainties, New Zealand and Southeast Asian states must turn their “middle power moment” into momentum.

How the bomb failed to deliver security in Pakistan

Sadia Tasleem, Lecturer with the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, examines how Pakistan’s experience during the May 2025 conflict with India exposed the limits and risks of nuclear deterrence, and how this has shifted the country’s strategic focus toward conventional military power.

Top leader’s Australia visit reflects a shared commitment to move from ambition to tangible outcomes

Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of Asia Program at the International Crisis Group, was interviewed by Viet Nam News on General Secretary and President To Lam’s state visit to Australia, discussing its significance for Viet Nam–Australia relations and opportunities to strengthen cooperation in trade, education, clean energy and people-to-people ties.

The China-Russia-North Korea Authoritarian Axis Looms Over Wars in Ukraine and Iran

Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Resident Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), wrote for The Diplomat on how growing cooperation among China, Russia, and North Korea could shape the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and what this could mean for Taiwan as well as the wider Asia-Pacific region.

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