Cybersecurity Governance and Digital Resilience in Developing Economies

his study examines the growing cybersecurity governance and digital resilience challenges affecting developing economies amid accelerating digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, fintech expansion, and cloud-based digital ecosystems. The paper explores how weak cybersecurity governance structures, institutional coordination gaps, low cyber awareness culture, inadequate workforce preparedness, and fragmented resilience planning continue to expose governments, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), healthcare systems, educational institutions, financial services, and critical infrastructure sectors to increasing cyber risks. Using a mixed-methods cybersecurity governance and resilience analysis approach, the research integrates comparative governance evaluation, AI-driven cyber threat analysis, SME vulnerability assessment, and resilience framework development using globally recognized datasets and cybersecurity intelligence sources including CICIDS2017, UNSW-NB15, Verizon DBIR, IBM Cost of a Data Breach Reports, ENISA Threat Landscape Reports, OECD Digital Economy Outlooks, and World Economic Forum cybersecurity studies. The paper proposes an AI-Driven Cybersecurity Governance and Resilience Framework (AICGRF) designed to support governance maturity, operational resilience, digital trust, policy integration, and cyber preparedness across developing economies. Additionally, the study introduces AuditShield, an SME-focused cybersecurity awareness and audit-support platform developed to improve cybersecurity readiness, governance visibility, cyber awareness, and operational resilience within resource-constrained digital environments. The findings emphasize that cybersecurity governance must now be treated not solely as a technical Information Technology (IT) issue, but as a broader governance, economic resilience, institutional trust, and national security priority.