We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

Increased cyber threats reported in Singapore in 2019

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) published its Singapore Cyber Landscape 2019 publication last week, which revealed that cyber threats grew in scale and complexity in 2019.

In line with global trends, Singapore witnessed an increase in cyber threats targeted at various local industries such as e-commerce, banking and finance.

These cyber threats included common malicious cyber activities such as website defacements, phishing incidents and malware infections.

The report also identified key cybersecurity trends. Aside from security risks associated with working from home due to COVID-19, the transition by organisations into cloud computing is also expected to increase the cybersecurity attack surface.

Other trends that are expected to have an impact on cybersecurity include Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, the surge in IoT devices and quantum computing.

Mr David Koh, Commissioner of Cybersecurity and Chief Executive of CSA, said, “As one of the most connected countries in the world, Singapore remains a target for cyber-attacks and cybercrime. Threat actors have continued to evolve their tactics, resulting in an intensification of malicious cyber activities in 2019. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also provided new opportunities and attack surfaces for them to capitalise on. Cybersecurity is a team sport, and now, more than ever, we must come together to do our part to protect our cyberspace.”

Cybersecurity Breaches in 2019

The CSA received 35 reports of ransomware cases in 2019, compared to 21 cases in 2018.

In regards to compromised systems, the CSA detected about 530 unique Command & Control (C&C) servers in Singapore, compared to 300 observed in 2018. Organisations that suffered ransomware attacks mostly belonged to the travel and tourism, manufacturing and logistics industries.

47,500 Singapore-hosted phishing URLs were also detected in 2019, a sharp increase from 16,100 URLs in 2018.

The Singapore Police Force reported that cybercrime has continued to rise, with 9,430 cases reported in 2019, up from 6,215 cases in 2018. This accounted for more than one-quarter of all crimes in Singapore in 2019.

E-commerce scams continue to be the top scam type in Singapore, recording a 30 per cent increase from 2,161 cases in 2018, to 2,809 cases in 2019.

Steps to Strengthen Singapore’s Cybersecurity

CSA is working closely with partners from the public and private sectors to strengthen cyber resilience and to ensure that Singapore can respond swiftly and recover promptly from cyber incidents.

In 2019, CSA conducted regular cybersecurity exercises to raise the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) sectors’ readiness to respond to cyber incidents, and worked with CII sector leads to ensure effective implementation of the SingHealth Committee of Inquiry’s recommendations.

CSA also collaborated with foreign CERTs and introduced initiatives to build a talent pool of skilled cyber defenders.

CSA is also reaching out to businesses and individuals to raise cybersecurity awareness and adoption through campaigns and platforms such as GoSafeOnline, SingCERT website and social media channels.

Other efforts include the push to enhance Internet of Things (IoT) security by introducing the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme for selected smart devices, and galvanising research and knowledge-sharing with international partners.

As part of efforts to build a resilient cyberspace, the CSA also launched the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence last year to enhance regional cyber capacity building and drive efforts towards the implementation of voluntary cyber norms for a regulated international order in the cyber arena.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend