News
News Categories

Singapore moves to a proactive stance on cybersecurity to close security skills gap

By Ken Wong - on 7 Oct 2021, 2:45pm

Singapore moves to a proactive stance on cybersecurity to close security skills gap

As part of the sixth edition of the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) held in Singapore, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Teo Chee Hean, launched an updated national cybersecurity strategy for Singapore.

Under the Strategy 2021 plan, Singapore will take a more proactive stance to address cyber threats, raise the overall level of cybersecurity across the nation, and advance international norms and standards on cybersecurity.

Strategy 2021 will also emphasise the economic opportunities in the cybersecurity sector for Singaporeans.

 

Reducing the skills gap

Cybersecurity will be made easier for Singaporeans and Singapore businesses. Image source: SICW.

As one part of this, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has collaborated with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to launch a new post-graduate certificate in ‘Hardware Security Evaluation and Certification’.

The programme will equip cybersecurity practitioners, professionals, and fresh engineering graduates with practical knowledge on topics such as security evaluation and certification, vulnerability assessment of hardware products, physical hardware attacks, and their countermeasures.

Comprising of six courses and commencing during the first quarter of 2022 at the National Integrated Centre for Evaluation (NICE), the programme will qualify for SkillsFuture funding.

In addition, a new regional cybersecurity training centre for ASEAN member states to cooperate on research, training, and responding to cyber threats has been opened in Singapore’s city centre at North Bridge Road.

The ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (ASCCE) will have two training labs that can hold up to 100 participants, and other conference rooms and amenities to facilitate capacity-building efforts said the CSA.

More than 900 senior officials from ASEAN and beyond, have collaborated with over 40 partners from across governments, the private sector, academia, and Non-Government Organisations.   

 

Making security easier

There are new toolkits available for each employee type. Image source: SICW.

Cybersecurity will also be made easier for Singaporeans and Singapore businesses through the new SG Cyber Safe Partnership Programme. Enterprises with security training content, products and services, or community outreach programmes can raise awareness and encourage the adoption of good cybersecurity practices by businesses and the public.

But there are also targeted measures for each group too.

For Singaporeans, the CSA is working with industry partners on a new mobile tool to secure their smartphones from cyber-security as part of their purview to protect Singapore’s “national Internet infrastructure such that enterprises and individuals in Singapore are protected from most online threats ever reaching them."

With the number of cyberattacks on Singaporean businesses showing no sign of slowing down, the CSA is moving to give businesses greater ownership of their cybersecurity. It is launching a series of cybersecurity toolkits each targeting key roles like large enterprise leaders and Small Medium Business (SMB) owners, IT teams, and employees.

The toolkits will provide their target with a deeper understanding of cybersecurity issues and threats. They will also enable these stakeholders to adopt cybersecurity measures relevant to their job roles. This could be business leaders becoming bilingual in technical and strategic languages, IT teams knowing how best to implement cybersecurity within their organisation, and employees adopting tips to address the most common threats they face.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.