Myanmar Scorecard

On paper, Myanmar now has a Cyber Security Policy (2023) and a Cybersecurity Law (2025), alongside the older Electronic Transactions Law and Telecommunications Law.
In practice, these are heavily oriented towards state control, censorship, and repression of dissent, not toward building a trusted incident-response and protection ecosystem.

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• Cyber Security Policy 2023 aims to establish a “robust cyber environment” and prioritize comprehensive cyber/digital legislation.

• Cybersecurity Law No. 1/2025 regulates cybersecurity services, platforms, VPN use, and grants wide powers to block, monitor, and shut down digital services.

• Amended Electronic Transactions Law and Telecommunications Law already enabled prosecutions for online speech and “fake news.”

• MMCERT and regional programs exist to improve capacity, but they operate under junta control and in a conflict environment.

Myanmar has tens of millions of internet users and very high mobile penetration, even after years of shutdowns and SIM churn. That gives it a substantial digital footprint despite infrastructure disruption.

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• 24.1 million internet users at the start of 2024 (44% penetration).

• Freedom House notes ~44% internet penetration and 64.3M mobile connections (117% penetration), mostly mobile-based access.

• Significant reliance on mobile data and social platforms—despite shutdowns and blocking—makes users vulnerable to fraud, surveillance, and manipulation.

• Overall: not as large as Indonesia or the Philippines, but big enough to matter and to be heavily exploited.

Myanmar is in an active, multi-front civil war with heavy foreign interest and involvement, especially from China and hosts infrastructure and zones tied to scam syndicates and cross-border crime. This makes the country one of the most geopolitically volatile in SEA.

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• Post-2021 coup civil war involving the junta, ethnic armed organizations, and resistance forces.

• Scam revenues and criminal zones have altered China’s role in the conflict; Beijing is pressuring the junta due to many Chinese victims.

• U.S. and allies have imposed sanctions on Myanmar armed groups and scam-linked entities.

• KK Park/Shwe Kokko region lies along the Thai border, with armed groups, BGF units, and complex control arrangements.

Myanmar is one of the highest-threat countries in SEA in terms of crime-driven cyber activity: massive scam centers, trafficking-for-cybercrime, plus conflict-related digital operations and surveillance.

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• Notorious scam hubs such as KK Park and Shwe Kokko used for pig-butchering scams and trafficking victims to run online fraud.

• UNODC estimates SEA scam networks (heavily concentrated in Myanmar & Cambodia) generate tens of billions of dollars annually.

• Post-coup environment includes increased surveillance, takedowns of resistance-linked communication, and targeted cyber operations against activists and journalists.

• U.S. Treasury and other governments have sanctioned Myanmar-linked armed groups and entities involved in scam/fraud and trafficking.

The state has strong repressive legal tools, but cyber “law enforcement” is mostly aimed at controlling speech and opposition, not protecting citizens from scams and digital abuse. Crackdowns on scam centers are real but often appear selective or performative.

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• Cybersecurity Law and amended ET Law impose harsh penalties for a broad set of online behaviors, with wide discretion.

• AP and Politico report high-profile raids on KK Park and Shwe Kokko: thousands detained, buildings bulldozed, equipment seized.

• Wired and other analysts argue these operations are partly performative, with key operators escaping and much infrastructure intact.

• Victims of trafficking often risk being treated as criminals rather than protected as victims.

Myanmar is, along with Cambodia, one of the world’s most notorious centers for pig-butchering scam compounds and cyber-slavery, with trafficked workers forced to run long-term fraud schemes.

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• KK Park and Shwe Kokko are emblematic scam cities: Chinese-run, armed-guarded compounds where trafficked workers run online scams targeting victims worldwide.

• UNODC estimates regional scam operations generate close to $40 billion/year, much of it tied to Myanmar–Cambodia operations.

• U.S. DOJ/Strike Force reporting highlights SEA scam compounds as a major source of fraud losses for Americans specifically.

• Raids in 2025 show thousands of foreign nationals detained or fleeing across the border after crackdowns, confirming the sheer scale of these operations.