Cross-sector collaboration aims to strengthen Singapore's cyber security capabilities

StarHub has announced plans to grow the local cyber security ecosystem at the launch of its Cyber Security Centre of Excellence (COE). It’s teamed with five industry partners, four IHLs.

StarHub and the COE partners will jointly invest S$200 million over the next five years to support a sustainable cyber security ecosystem.

According to the telco’s news release, StarHub today launched its new Cyber Security Center of Excellence (COE), and announced that StarHub and its partners will undertake initiatives to develop talent, innovation, and industry collaboration to bolster local cyber security.

Five industry partners, namely Blue Coat, Cyberbit, EY, Fortinet and Wedge Networks, and four institutes of higher learning (IHL), including Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Republic Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic and Singapore University of Technology and Design have thus far joined the COE.

StarHub shares that it plans to rope in more industry and IHL partners to the COE to drive value and results.

To help cyber security professionals enhance their knowledge and career development, StarHub plans to work with leading centres for professional development in cyber security to design and offer relevant training courses. StarHub is also committed to addressing the shortage of cyber security talent in Singapore by training at least 300 specialists on different cyber related capabilities and skill sets over the next five years. It is teaming up with the four IHLs and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) to enhance cyber security training curriculum and programmes, and to collaborate on research and development.

As a first step, StarHub and NYP have jointly established a lab on NYP campus to provide hands-on training for students of Cyber Security & Forensics. These students will subsequently have the opportunity to learn directly from experienced cyber security professionals during their internship placements at StarHub or its industry partners.

Meanwhile, Professor Yitzhak Ben-Israel has been appointed as the advisor to the COE. He is a member of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, as well as the International Advisory Panel for Singapore's National Cybersecurity Research and Development Programme. Ben-Israel is also Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology & Research, and heads the Security Studies programme at Tel Aviv University.

Symantec doubles APAC presence with new SOC in Singapore

Symantec Corp. has announced plans to beef up its Cyber Security Services business globally with an investment of more than US$50 million. A portion of this investment has been leveraged to build a new dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) in Singapore, inaugurated yesterday, doubling Symantec’s Cyber Security Service expertise in the Asia-Pacific region.

Now more than ever, organizations require a deeper security understanding and strong proactive security measures to gain the upper hand on adversaries. Symantec’s SOCs analyze 30 billion logs worldwide each day to provide enterprise-wide protection to help organizations strengthen their defenses and respond to new threats as they emerge 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

With the launch of the SOC in Singapore, businesses will have access to intelligence, accurate threat detection and proactive notification of emerging threats to ensure their most sensitive data is protected. The new SOC will also enable businesses to shorten the time between detection and response, reduce operational costs and proactively counter emerging threats.

“Today, technology alone may not stop advanced threats. Organizations need security experts on hand to interpret and prioritize the critical events that need action. By investing in people and security IQ in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific, Symantec is expanding its visibility into the region, enabling us to bolster customers’ security operations capabilities, and protect their critical information and assets,” said Samir Kapuria, SVP and general manager of Cyber Security Services at Symantec.

“The Asia-Pacific region is incredibly diverse and multi-cultural. This allows us to attract highly educated multi lingual security professionals who bring expertise and experience from many vertical industries and global security organizations and are well-versed in the security landscape,” added Kapuria.

Last year Symantec’s team of cyber professionals protected organizations from more than half a million web attacks per day, according to the 2015 Internet Security Threat Report.

The investment will enable the company to expand its Chennai, India SOC as well as the Tokyo, Japan SOC. The next phase of the company’s SOC expansion will take place in Europe, with more facilities expected to open within the next 12 months. Once complete, Symantec will have eight SOCs worldwide, extending their current team of 500+ certified cybersecurity professionals to address every stage of the cyber-attack lifecycle.

Symantec has also invested significantly in its cyber services-enabling technology, including big data analytics and distributed computing. With an increasing demand to manage customers’ security environments with Security as a Service, Symantec Cyber Security Services offers a strong portfolio, including Managed Security Services, DeepSight Intelligence, Incident Response and Security Simulation training.

This announcement follows a US$20 million investment in existing SOCs across Australia, India and Japan in the past year.

Cyber Security Agency of Singapore forges partnerships to boost security capabilities

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has forged new partnerships to boost cyber security capabilities as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen Singapore’s cyber security posture and stay ahead of a rapidly evolving cyber security landscape.

The CSA signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with Singtel, Check Point Software Technologies and FireEye to signal the parties’ commitment to work together on key areas of interest.

CSA will be working with Singtel to build up local capabilities and deliver advanced cyber security services. The partnership will also see CSA and Singtel collaborate on developing manpower through training and certification to meet increasing demand and on research and development to develop new cyber security solutions.

Additionally, Singtel has launched an Advanced Security Operations Centre (ASOC) in Singapore through its strategic partnership with FireEye. The ASOC monitors advanced cyber threats globally and helps customers overcome sophisticated malicious software attacks.

“A resilient cyber security ecosystem will help reinforce Singapore’s position as a key business hub for innovation while building the foundation of a safe and smart nation,” said Bill Chang, Chief Executive Officer, Singtel Group Enterprise.

CSA’s collaboration with cyber security vendor, Check Point, taps on Check Point’s expertise in developing industry leading security solutions. Under the MOU, the parties will focus on bringing advanced solutions to Singapore while growing local capabilities to provide these solutions. The parties will also collaborate on workforce development initiatives and in-depth technical training.

CSA will work with cyber security company, FireEye, to strengthen information sharing on cyber trends and cybercrimes, threats and indicators of compromise as well as jointly devise measures to enhance incident response.

CSA also signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) with CREST International and the Association of Information Security Professionals (AISP) to introduce CREST certification for penetration testers in Singapore. The certifications will serve as a competency baseline for practicing professionals and service providers. Under this MOI, the partners will join hands to set up a CREST Singapore Chapter next year.

CSA and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have established the Cyber Security Associates and Technologists Programme (CSAT) to train and up-skill ICT professionals to acquire practical skills for specialised job roles for Cyber Security Operations.

The programme is aimed at helping fresh and mid-career ICT individuals attain the necessary practical skills to better equip them for cyber security roles and positions. CSA and IDA will collaborate with industry partners for the training and up-skilling of ICT professionals.

“We are excited to be taking these strides forward with our partners to enhance Singapore’s cyber security capabilities as well as raise the quality of the industry and workforce,” said David Koh, Chief Executive, CSA. “These partnerships pave the way for us to work closely together on innovative solutions to strengthen our cyber security core. We look forward to establishing more of such consequential partnerships to achieve the vision of a secure smart nation for Singapore.”

SingTel announce security operation center, managed defence service powered by FireEye

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and FireEye, Inc. have announced a strategic partnership to enhance the cyber security ecosystem in Asia Pacific (APAC).

The partnership will cover significant investments related to new Advanced Security Operation Centres (ASOCs) in Singapore and Australia; and the launch of the first SingTel Managed Defence solution powered by FireEye in APAC.

The companies have also agreed to build up cyber security expertise, including training up to 150 professionals to operate the ASOCs.

SingTel and FireEye will also set up a new data store in the region; and increase awareness and knowledge of next generation cyber threats through the bi-annual APAC-focused threat advisory reports by SingTel and FireEye.

“This is a ground-breaking collaboration to enhance the cyber security ecosystem in the region,” said Bill Chang, SingTel’s CEO Group Enterprise. “This will help enterprises better manage the increasing challenges of a new generation of cyber-attacks. With deep cyber security capabilities, SingTel aims to be the preferred and trusted ICT services partner for enterprises.”

Chang added: "With more mobile devices consuming enterprise data and increasingly exposed to malware attacks, SingTel and FireEye will join forces to provide threat mitigation for mobile devices as well."

Chang further added: “Apart from offering the game-changing SingTel Managed Defence Powered by FireEye solution, which helps enterprises avert a costly and prolonged malware breach, we are strengthening the industry’s awareness and knowledge in dealing with cyber threats with our bi-annual Asia Pacific-focused threat advisory reports.”

“FireEye is very excited about our partnership with SingTel. Our managed defense capabilities deliver a level of protection, containment and remediation of highly targeted and complex attacks unmatched in the industry, and SingTel has the scale and infrastructure to help reach customers across the region,” said David DeWalt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer for FireEye.

DeWalt added: “Many organizations realize the nature of attacks has fundamentally changed, but are unsure how to update their security infrastructure to respond to modern threats. FireEye and SingTel bring a unique solution to the market, providing managed services that transform our customers’ security posture and help protect their most valuable assets. With our two leading brands, we are looking to grow the business quickly in the Asia Pacific market.”

SingTel Managed Defence Powered by FireEye
The solution will provide continuous monitoring, detection and the quick containment of malware and other perceived threats to enterprises and government organizations.

Based on investigations in 2013 from FireEye’s Mandiant incident response unit, advanced attackers went undetected for a median of 229 days before being discovered and the vulnerabilities remediated. During this time, organization can be exposed to potential malicious activity for months. The SingTel Managed Defence Powered by FireEye solution focuses on both preventing threats from breaching a network as well as quickly alerting and remediating vulnerabilities to reduce the window of exposure.

This solution is designed to protect organizations by detecting and preventing intrusion attempts against major attack vectors with patented virtual machine-based technology. The solution also monitors an environment 24x7 and analyzing potential cyber threats using techniques based on over 100,000 hours per year of front-line experience.

The Australian centre is expected to open in Sydney in early 2015.