Singapore seeks volunteers to beef up cyberdefense

SINGAPORE--The government has launched a new IT security initiative to drive coordinated efforts in cyberdefense and more effectively deal with cyberthreats at a national level.

Speaking at the Governmentware 2010 Conference and Exhibition here Tuesday, the country's Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee, said the new Professional Cyber Defender Programme (PCDP) will enlist the help of individual IT professionals who are keen in "defending" the nation's cyber wellbeing.

Administered by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Authority (SITSA), this group of volunteers will be invited to attend seminars, training and get-together sessions to help build rapport and understanding with other volunteers.

Ho added: "When the need arises, this pool of cyber defenders can be roped in to provide relevant support to the National Cyber Incidence Response Team (NCIRT) during major cyber incidents.

"Depending on their areas of expertise, volunteers can be involved in incident response activities such as malware analysis and computer forensics."

These volunteers will be recruited through roadshows and seminars.

The minister also revealed that SITSA organized its first cyber security exercise codenamed Cyberark I in June this year, which focused on assessing the Singapore government's preparedness to deal with potential emergencies arising from significant cybersecurity incidents, such as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) attacks.

Established as a government agency in October last year, SITSA is the country's "specialist authority" tasked to deal with threats to national security, specifically, external threats such as cyberterrorism and cyberespionage.

"[APT is] a group of sophisticated, determined and coordinated attackers that seek to systematically compromise government and commercial computer networks", according to Mandiant, a company that specializes in investigating computer network intrusions.

Ho warned: "Given the ease with which APT is able to bypass conventional defenses and its ability to remain undetected, no organization should let its guard down and assume that it is absolutely immune against such sophisticated attacks."

APT attackers launched the headlined "Operation Aurora" assault in June this year where several high-profile companies' security systems were compromised, including Google and Yahoo.

Currently in its 19th run, the annual Governmentware 2010 this year will feature 81 local and international experts scheduled to speak on various IT security issues. The invitation-only CXO sessions will also allow IT, business and security heads to interact and discuss real-life business constraints and develop balanced security solutions.

New this year is a "hacking" competition where tertiary students are invited to test their IT security skills in a safe and realistic environment, as well as an end-user awareness forum which seeks to educate participants about the importance of information security.

The Singapore government in recent years has invested resources in initiatives to bolster the country's security infrastructure, including the National Authentication Framework.