How SAF's Digital and Intelligence Service revamp boosts cyber security

On March 18, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) officially launched two new commands as part of its growth amid a rapidly evolving digital and cyber-security landscape.

- Mike Yeo

The DIS – the fourth service of the Singapore Armed Forces – inaugurated the Defence Cyber Command (DCCOM) and SAF C4 and Digitalisation Command (SAFC4DC) at Hillview Camp.

The restructuring would, in the words of Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen during Parliament's Budget debate earlier in March, "bring to bear for the SAF the full effects of new digital hardware and software".

The Straits Times looks at how the DIS has been restructured, and the kind of people it is looking for as it expands.

Q What do each of the commands do?

A The DCCOM's role will be to defend the Ministry of Defence and Singapore Armed Forces and, by extension, Singapore against cyber threats, while the SAFC4DC will consolidate the service's software and hardware capabilities under a single command to accelerate and integrate digitalisation efforts across the SAF.

The establishment of DCCOM consolidates the DIS' cyber-security entities under a single command to better advance cyber-security capabilities and operations. The command is essentially the cyber guardian of Mindef and the SAF, patrolling their systems to ensure security.

With the setting up of DCCOM, two entities have been created to enhance Mindef's cyber-security posture.

These entities are:

• Cyber Protection Group (CPG): Its role is to enhance Mindef or SAF's contributions towards national cyber defence by working with the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) and other government agencies to strengthen cyber defence and resilience of key critical information infrastructure.

• Cyber Threat Intelligence Group: This will provide early warning of cyber threats and cyber threat intelligence assessments.

DCCOM has also taken under its command two of the existing DIS entities which had previously sat elsewhere in the DIS organisation chart, namely the Cyber Defence Group (CDG) and Cyber Defence Test and Evaluation Centre (Cy-TEC).