With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has established a new unit to equip the government’s network defenders with stronger capabilities while tightening their coordination.
The new Digital Defence Hub, which comes under Mindef’s Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT), has also been tasked with driving cyber security collaboration within the government and with the private sector.
Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam announced the new unit yesterday at TechCon, an annual closed-door technical conference hosted by CSIT.
Speaking at the conference, he said the new unit will focus on developing and deploying capabilities to support a wide range of public agencies and missions important to national security, such as countering advanced persistent threats (APTs).
APTs are well-resourced attackers, usually state-linked, who lurk in networks to steal sensitive information or disrupt essential services.
In his conference speech, Shanmugam said suspected APT attacks on Singapore have more than quadrupled between 2021 and 2024.
Other forms of digital threats that can severely disrupt societies, such as ransomware attacks and digital scams, are also evolving quickly, he noted.
“The challenges are growing. As a highly connected and digital society, stepping up our digital defence is a clear priority,” said Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister.
Dr Adrian Tang, who is Digital Defence Hub group director, said the new unit aims to “better counter high impact digital threats, especially particularly advanced persistent threats against our government systems and critical infrastructure”.
The new unit will leverage CSIT’s extensive expertise across various technical domains, such as cyber threat research, malware analysis, and red-teaming, to enhance the capabilities of public agencies in defending against, investigating and responding to high-impact cyber threats, he added.
Red-teaming refers to ethical hackers simulating cyber attacks to improve an organisation’s ability to detect and nullify real attacks. — The Straits Times/ANN
