In a major effort to shore up its cyber-security
capabilities, the Defence Ministry (Mindef) will not only set up a
new cyber command but also rope in national servicemen as part of a
new cyber-defence vocation.
The vocation, under the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF),
will see selected soldiers deployed from August. These
“cyber-defenders” will fan out across the new Defence Cyber
Organisation, which will also house the SAF’s new Cyber Defence
Group, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced on Friday (March 3) in
the debate on Mindef’s budget.
The aim is to have about 2,600 servicemen — regulars,
full-time national servicemen and operationally ready NSmen — on
board in about a decade.
As part of a pilot, some cyber-defenders who are doing
National Service may also be deployed to support the Cyber Security
Agency of Singapore (CSA) at the national level.
Servicemen can expect to fulfil three key roles:
Monitor critical networks and systems around the clock to detect
anomalies and flag potential attacks; respond quickly to contain
cyber incidents and reduce their impact on regular network
operations; and analyse data and detect patterns that may allow the
SAF to better defend its networks against similar attacks in
future.
Those chosen for the vocation, who will be assessed
case-by-case, will need to have the relevant cyber skills,
experience and academic background. They could include employees
from the cyber-security industry and those who have demonstrated
their abilities at cyber competitions.
Before this, only a small number of full-time national
servicemen have been deployed to support the SAF’s cyber-defence
efforts.
Helmed by Mr David Koh, chief executive of CSA, the new
Defence Cyber Organisation will lead and coordinate cyber-security
efforts across the defence cluster, including the Defence Science
and Technology Agency and DSO National Laboratories.
Its key roles include charting cyber-defence strategies
and policies, and supporting the CSA where needed.
As for the new Cyber Defence Group, a formation under
the Defence Cyber Organisation, it will monitor and audit the
cyber-defence of the SAF’s military networks around the clock and
neutralise cyber threats, among other things.
With the SAF transforming itself into a more
technology-centric force, the threat of cyber-attacks dealing a
blow to its military capabilities has grown. Such hits are already
happening overseas. For instance, it was reported last year that
cyber-attacks against 160 South Korean firms and government
agencies saw more than 140,000 computers compromised, resulting in
the loss of more than 40,000 defence-related classified
materials.
To ramp up training for cyber-defenders, the
Headquarters Signals and Command Systems will this month sign a
memorandum of understanding with cyber-security firm ST Electronics
(Info-Security) and Nanyang Polytechnic. It will cover six areas,
including providing specialised, globally accredited courses and
co-developing a customised cyber-defence curriculum.
These new initiatives build on efforts over the years
to improve cyber-defence, Mindef said, such as the Cyber Defence
Operations Hub established in 2013.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week,
Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Mok Chuan Hao, the hub’s operations
control head, said that the SAF faced “all sorts of attacks”, from
those that were less critical detected by its systems to the more
advanced ones which require skills and analysis to decipher if an
attack has indeed occurred.
“Cyber-attack methods are always evolving, and every
year, there’re new methods,” he said, adding that it is thus
important for military personnel to learn to spot and counteract
such threats.
It takes about half a year to train a cyber-defender.
Aside from grasping networks and the SAF’s systems, a
cyber-defender — who will undergo a training programme that
includes on-the-job training — must also be well-versed in areas
such as operating the force’s cyber-defence tools, LTC Mok
said.
As part of their training, the cyber-defenders will
undergo activities at the Cyber Test and Evaluation Centre
regularly. Activities such as network security testing as well as
cyber-defence training and exercises have been held at the facility
since it opened in 2015.
While figures for cyber attacks against Mindef are
unavailable, Dr Ng noted in Parliament last year that cyber
intrusions occurred daily: “For those of you in this business, it’s
not tens; it’s not hundreds; it’s not thousands; it’s hundreds of
thousands or millions of network event logs.”
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