Growing digital orientation and cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the Global South: analyzing dependency and geopolitical dimensions

Purpose The study scrutinizes the structural dimensions of cybersecurity vulnerability in Global South (GS) countries. It focuses in particular on countries’ external technology dependencies in building national cyber capacity and incident response capabilities. The GS’s cybersecurity environment has significantly changed. These countries were once fringe players in the world’s cyber threat conversation, but are now among the most affected by cyberattacks. This study aims to investigate how dependence on foreign technology shapes cybersecurity capacity; how emerging technologies (artificial intelligence, internet of things, blockchain) affect digital sovereignty dynamics; and what role South-South cooperation can play in overcoming resource constraints. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed-methods approach. It applies a qualitative narrative literature review and a descriptive analysis of quantitative data. Findings Using the lens of Dependency Theory, blending it with geopolitical dimensions, the study explains the findings in three analytically distinct dimensions: supply-chain dependence, normative dependence and capacity dependence. The analysis is presented through eight purposively selected country cases and situates geopolitical engagement by the United States, China and Russia within the dependency framework. The paper calls for hybrid, glocalized approaches that involve open-source options, South-South cooperation and adaptive governance to overcome dependency cycles. Originality/value Existing research tends to examine cybersecurity challenges in the GS in isolation, whether through individual incidents, regional snapshots or single policy dimensions. This paper brings these threads together by applying Dependency Theory to the cybersecurity domain and decomposing dependency into three distinct but interrelated categories: supply-chain, normative and capacity dependence. While existing scholarship has examined individual facets of digital reliance, limited research has systematically integrated supply-chain, normative and capacity dependencies into a unified structural framework to explain cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the GS.