The Asia Foundation and the Sri Lanka Police have launched a national public awareness campaign on cybercrime prevention, targeting micro, small and medium enterprises alongside the general public, the Daily FT reported.
The campaign runs through the Foundation’s Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Fund and reaches the public by television, police social media channels and public spaces.
What the campaign involves
Six infomercials are scheduled to broadcast on TV Derana during November, alongside distribution through Sri Lanka Police social media. Awareness pennants in Sinhala and Tamil will be displayed at police stations nationwide, at Bandaranaike International Airport and at other public establishments. Stickers for public transport and laptops are being distributed through the police.
The guidance centres on basic precautions: using strong, unique passwords; enabling two-factor authentication where available; verifying suspicious links, attachments and messages before responding; and never sharing one-time passwords with anyone.
Training already delivered
The Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Fund project runs from October 2023 to December 2026 across 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific, supported by Google.org and delivered with regional partners Protect.ngo and the Global Cyber Alliance.
In Sri Lanka, implementation partners are the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Uva Wellassa University, the Lanka Education and Research Network, the Regional Development Bank and Sarvodaya.
More than 11,000 individuals representing over 7,000 MSMEs have received training to identify and manage cybersecurity risks. University cybersecurity clinics at SLIIT and Uva Wellassa University have reached more than 200 MSMEs.
Work with the National Police Academy has trained 150 station and divisional level officers as trainers, 50 women officers in inclusive community engagement and first-response protocols, and 30 officers in technical skills including evidence preservation and referrals. A cybersecurity toolkit is to be integrated into the police learning management system.
Those present at the launch included Police Media Spokesperson Assistant Superintendent F. U. Wootler, Bureau for the Investigation of Abuse of Children and Women Deputy Inspector General Darshika Kumari, Western Province Senior Deputy Inspector General Sajeewa Medawatta, Asia Foundation Senior Program Manager Rukshanie Vidyaratne, and LEARN chief executive Prof. Roshan Ragel of the University of Peradeniya.
Context
The campaign lands days after police reported 765 arrests for computer and digital fraud offences this year and warned the public about an impersonated government payment system. This desk notes that police cybercrime figures for 2026 have been published on several different bases and are not directly comparable.
Not reported
The filing does not give the campaign’s budget, its intended duration beyond November, or any target for reach. It does not say how the six infomercials were produced or in which languages they air, and gives no measure of whether the 11,000 people already trained changed their security practices.
On sourcing: this report rests on a single verified source and is drawn from a partners’ release rather than independent reporting; no other verified newsroom had covered the launch at the time of writing.
