Singapore Govt unveils new masterplan to fight cyber threats
$70m push includes accreditation and certification of info-security pros
By LEE U-WEN
THE government is spending $70 million on a new masterplan to strengthen the local infocomm security industry’s resilience against cyber threats.
High on its list of priorities is to raise the standards of infocomm security professionals here, and that will be the role of a new one-stop centre set up to govern the industry - the first organisation of its kind in Asia.
Called the Association of Information Security Professionals (AISP), it will provide accreditation and certification, standardised programmes and career development courses to its members, among other functions. So far, 120 people have signed up, with about 900 expected to join over the next three years.
This would represent almost half of the estimated 2,000 infocomm security professionals in Singapore, according to AISP chairman Gerard Tan.
Unveiling the masterplan yesterday was Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who said that the association would ‘elevate the standing, professionalism and trust’ of infocomm security practitioners here.
‘(AISP) will sharpen their expertise and help raise the overall competency of these professionals in dealing with cyber threats,’ he told some 500 industry professionals at an annual government infocomm security seminar organised by the Infocomm Development Authority and the Ministry of Finance.
This is the second such masterplan for Singapore. The first, launched in February 2005, was aimed primarily at providing the public sector with measures to counter infocomm security threats. The latest one will expand on those efforts and engage both the public and private sectors more, so as to effectively secure Singapore’s cyber space.
AISP’s Mr Tan, who is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: ‘The critical issue facing us is the overall awareness of infocomm security. There is a high level of that in Singapore but we need to share that information and allow the professionals from different fields to collaborate and set standards of competency.’
Educating young people is another focus of the masterplan, with IDA partnering several infocomm firms to offer up to 20 scholarships over five years for students to learn the craft of infocomm security at local and overseas universities.
Dr Balakrishnan also said that a new cyber-security awareness alliance would be formed to reach out to the community at large, and not just infocomm specialists.
Looking ahead, the government plans to continue to share information and explore tie-ups with other countries to counter cyber threats and grow these working relationships.
In October, Singapore will become the first Asian country to host Meridian 2008, a high-level IT security conference that would bring together many governments to exchange ideas and share best practices on protecting critical IT infrastructure.
Source : Business Times - 18 April 2008
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