Govt to share classified threat intelligence with critical sectors: Shanmugam

Infrastructure owners will also get help to hunt down threat actors, stress test systems

- Tham Yuen-C Senior Political Correspondent

Owners of selected critical infrastructure in Singapore could get extra help in hunting down cyber threats and stress-testing their systems.

For the first time, the Government will also be sharing its classified threat intelligence with organisations in critical sectors, including energy, telecommunications and finance, to prevent cyber attacks that could jeopardise national security.

Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam announced this at the opening of the Singapore International Cyber Week on Oct 21, saying that the Government will need to move beyond the traditional regulatory relationship with critical infrastructure owners who are up against some of the most sophisticated state-backed cyber threat actors.

He said that this “significant shift” in approach was necessary to level the playing field “between defenders and attackers and turn the tide against the threat actors”.

But there was also a need for the organisations to build up resilience and be ready to operate in a degraded mode, as Singapore is up against sophisticated threat actors and some may succeed in their attacks.

That is why it is crucial to strengthen cooperation between key Government and technology partners, to share intelligence, block attacks and shut down networks used by cyber threat actors, he said.

Singapore will also continue to build up the rules-based international cyber order to strengthen international collaboration, he said, noting that cyber attacks can come from anywhere in the world and can be routed through any number of intermediate nodes.

The moves to strengthen Singapore’s cyber defences come after the authorities uncovered attacks by UNC3886 against critical infrastructure here.