SINGAPORE: Owners of selected critical infrastructure in Singapore could get extra help in hunting down cyber threats and stress-testing their systems.
For the first time, the government will also be sharing its classified threat intelligence with organisations in critical sectors, including energy, telecommunications and finance, to prevent cyber attacks that could jeopardise national security.
Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam announced this at the opening of the Singapore International Cyber Week on Oct 21, saying that the government will need to move beyond the traditional regulatory relationship with critical infrastructure owners who are up against some of the most sophisticated state-backed cyber threat actors.
He said that this “significant shift” in approach was necessary to level the playing field “between defenders and attackers and turn the tide against the threat actors”.
But there was also a need for the organisations to build up resilience and be ready to operate in a degraded mode, as Singapore is up against sophisticated threat actors and some may succeed in their attacks.
That is why it is crucial to strengthen cooperation between key government and technology partners, to share intelligence, block attacks and shut down networks used by cyber threat actors, he said.
Singapore will also continue to build up the rules-based international cyber order to strengthen international collaboration, he said, noting that cyber attacks can come from anywhere in the world and can be routed through any number of intermediate nodes.
The moves to strengthen Singapore’s cyber defences comes after the authorities uncovered attacks by UNC3886 against critical infrastructure here.
Shanmugam said Singapore has been been under regular attacks.
“Our geopolitical situation, our digital connectivity, make us attractive targets,” he said.
He was outlining Singapore’s approach to dealing with cyber attacks in his opening speech at the conference held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
Besides securing critical infrastructure through the new partnership with infrastructure owners, the government will also adopt a zero tolerance approach against cyber attackers.
It will take action against them whether they are attacking targets here or using Singapore as a launchpad to attack other countries, he said.
He added that Singapore has discovered foreign actors attempting to influence its domestic politics both in the physical world and on the Internet.
He cited the example of the recent general election in which a self-styled preacher had put up social media posts encouraging people to vote along racial and religious lines.
The issue was discussed in Parliament last week when Mr Shanmugam delivered a ministerial statement.
At the same time, a network of six foreign nationals was also busted for targeting foreign governments from here, said Shanmugam.
They had hacked into various overseas websites to steal the personal information of a significant number of people, which they subsequently sold for profit.
Shanmugam said the police and Internal Security Department had uncovered the network and four of the foreign nationals have been charged with possessing hacking tools and malware on their devices.
“Naturally, questions arise as to why they are doing this and whether they are doing this on behalf of who else,” he added. - The Straits Times/ANN
