Singapore’s
Cyber Security Awareness Day
is gaining momentum, with twice the number of pledges received from individuals and organisations this year to secure their computers, mobile devices, wireless equipment and online identity. In all, over 630,000 pledges were received across the public, private and people sectors compared with last year’s figure of 300,000.
The Awareness Day is championed by the
Cyber Security Awareness Alliance
jointly led by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF). The annual nationwide call-to-action aims to raise infocomm security awareness and remind everyone of the need for personal and workplace responsibility in adopting simple and secure online practices.
The pledges were obtained from various government agencies, private organisations, enterprises, as well as schools and junior colleges in Singapore. They were made through online registrations, or at the infocomm security roadshows, talks and various activities organised by the Alliance.
Cyber Security Awareness Day was held alongside the Information Security Seminar 2012, which took place at the Resorts World Convention Centre.
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The Awareness Day itself was held alongside the Information Security Seminar 2012, which took place at the Resorts World Convention Centre on 11 July 2012. Speaking at the seminar, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said it was encouraging that the security messages have reached out to more people.
He noted that apart from Awareness Day, several events and activities were also conducted to reach out and engage the community-at-large. These included talks, workshops, e-learning and online activities such as quizzes to promote learning on various facets of infocomm security through fun and games. The Alliance has also leveraged various social media platforms to facilitate the creation of interest groups as well as sharing of useful tips and best practices on infocomm security.
The public, private and people sectors have also collaborated to implement various programmes and initiatives under the second Infocomm Security Masterplan (MP2) to enhance Singapore’s resilience against cyber threats. The Secure and Resilient Internet Code of Practice was introduced in February 2011 for designated Internet Service Providers (ISPs), paving the way for closer collaboration between the Government and ISPs to improve the security of Singapore’s Internet infrastructure.
To enhance the infocomm security capabilities in the public sector, the Cyber Watch Centre and Threat Analysis Centre were also established and the Government will continue to put in place capabilities to enhance the monitoring, correlation and analysis of security information to mitigate future threats. Singapore is also working closely with its international counterparts on regular sharing of information and periodic cyber security exercises like the ASEAN CERT Incident Drill to facilitate the detection, resolution and prevention of cyber threats.
Information Security Seminar 2012
The theme for this year’s Information Security Seminar was “Strengthening the Security of Our Cyber Environment”. The keynote was delivered by
Mr Howard Schmidt
, Former Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator, The White House.
Ms Kristin Lovejoy, General Manager, Global Security Services Business, IBM, also spoke at the morning session of the event. She highlighted the need for companies to understand the risks involved as they leveraged new technologies for innovation and market differentiation, and provided an executive perspective on cyber security risk evolution and how organisations could pursue innovation with confidence.
Mr Wade Williamson, Security Analyst, Palo Alto Network, followed with a presentation on Security Framework Evolution. He spoke of the need to establish new security models that not only empowered new technologies such as mobile computing, social media and cloud computing, but also ensured that security would be embedded into their design. He also looked at what was required of the security industry and IT security teams in order to meet this demand and build a rational, stable security framework for the future.
Ten other speakers presented during the afternoon tracks which covered Business Security, Technical Security and Government Security. The topics ranged from data breach investigations and DDOS attacks to cloud security, new developments in financial crime and securing critical information infrastructure. The Information Security Seminar was jointly organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, the Association of Information Security Professionals and the Cyber Security Awareness Alliance.