Singapore's steps to counter increasing threats to government systems

The Straits Times

Singapore upgrades cyber security operations, includes wider detection capabilities

PUBLISHED ON AUG 26, 2014 9:38 AM

Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim at a media interview, addressing recent infocomms-related incidents. Singapore's Cyber-Watch Centre is being upgraded to include more detection capabilities to counter increasing threats against government systems. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

BY IRENE THAM

SINGAPORE - Singapore's Cyber-Watch Centre is being upgraded to include more detection capabilities to counter increasing threats against government systems.

By January next year, the centre will be able to track unauthorised changes to websites and network traffic to detect malicious files and potential data leakages. The enhancement follows a wave of cyber attacks against government websites last year.

"This upgrade will allow us to better monitor government websites and inspect if there are malicious activities, which could affect access to online public services," said Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.

He was speaking this morning at the Infocomm Security Seminar organised by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.

At the same time, work is underway to raise the level of cybersecurity expertise here to boost the local workforce. IDA is getting tertiary institutions to include cybersecurity in the curriculum and have it as a specialist track in degree programmes.

For starters, the Singapore Institute of Technology will be launching Singapore'a first undergraduate Information Security degree programme in September next year.

The Nanyang Technological University has also included an information security specialisation programme as part of its undergraduate curriculum since the beginning of this month. More than 30 per cent of the final year cohort has opted for the programme.

"We need to grow Singapore's pool of Infocomm security experts and build their capabilities," said Dr Yaacob.

"The biggest growth in manpower requirements will be in the areas of security operations, security engineering and technology. Apart from dedicated cybersecurity experts, other professionals in areas like network engineering and application development are also needed in defending network infrastructure or applications from ever-increasing cyber threats."

The Cyber-Watch Centre was set up in 2007 to monitor critical public-sector IT installations round the clock. The centre is managed by Singapore-based security services provider e-Cop

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