Nearly 50,000 SMEs to get a year of free cyber protection in digitalisation drive

Service by Singtel can detect malicious links and websites in staff e-mails, web browsers

- Sarah Koh

Starting in November, nearly 50,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to tap one year's worth of free cyber-security services to keep out malware in their networks and devices as part of a national digitalisation drive.

The service is offered by Singtel, in partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority and Enterprise Singapore.

The telco is one of two new firms to support the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB), a national strategy by the authorities to help companies here transform digitally.

Announced on Oct 7, the Singtel Cyber Protect Programme can detect malicious links and websites in the emails and web browsers of the employees of SMEs.

It alerts employees to these malicious links and blocks their access to dodgy sites containing malware.

Such a programme is necessary because cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex to solve as more companies continue to digitalise, said Singtel Singapore chief executive Ng Tian Chong.