Darktrace Commentary in Response to Singapore’s National Day Rally

Attributed to Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Darktrace

During this year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and how we need to accelerate our use of IT to create opportunities and make Singapore an “outstanding place to live, work and play.” This includes the mainstream adoption of electronic payments, deployment of sensor networks and using big data.

While we should be excited at the prospect of new possibilities, these technologies bring a new type of cyber risk into the equation. Local organisations will therefore need to relook their fundamental approach to cyber defence as a part of realising their Smart Nation ambitions.

Cashless payments no doubt deliver convenience, ease of transaction and allow individuals to better keep track of spending. At the same time, we’ve seen a rise in text message scams called “smishing,” which can infect smartphones and result in the theft of personal information.

Sensor networks, or IoT, combined with big data, can help Singapore understand everything from carbon monoxide emissions and traffic flow to the number of people using the crosswalks. It has the potential to make our environment and everyday lives more efficient and sustainable. However, unsecured IoT devices, from smart lamp posts and sensors to network-connected biometric sensors and even fish tanks, can provide additional entry points for cyber-criminals.

As we’ve seen with recent cyber-attacks, today’s cyber-criminals are no longer purely after financial gain. They endeavour to sow disruption and erode public trust in an organisation’s ability to safeguard data and keep our everyday lives running normally.

The success of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision will be heavily dependent on its ability to mitigate new forms of cyber risk. Alongside speed in the delivery of public services, business transactions and even social interactions, there is a pressing need for speed in addressing cyber-threats that can come from anywhere and move faster than ever before.

These threats are outpacing the efforts of human security teams and organisations can no longer hide behind a cloak of ignorance or a lack of resources. There is a solution – governments around the world, including Singapore’s, are starting to focus their attention on AI and this new class of technology can be used in cyber defence to autonomously detect and halt novel attacks. In fact, this is already being adopted by local companies big and small.

For the first time, local organisations have the opportunity to be on the front foot. Cyber security does not need to be seen as a necessary evil or a set of limiting technologies, policies and procedures that cripple business growth. Rather, it becomes an enabler that would be imperative for Singapore’s Smart Nation transition.

Attributed to Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Darktrace

During this year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and how we need to accelerate our use of IT to create opportunities and make Singapore an “outstanding place to live, work and play.” This includes the mainstream adoption of electronic payments, deployment of sensor networks and using big data.

While we should be excited at the prospect of new possibilities, these technologies bring a new type of cyber risk into the equation. Local organisations will therefore need to relook their fundamental approach to cyber defence as a part of realising their Smart Nation ambitions.

Cashless payments no doubt deliver convenience, ease of transaction and allow individuals to better keep track of spending. At the same time, we’ve seen a rise in text message scams called “smishing,” which can infect smartphones and result in the theft of personal information.

Sensor networks, or IoT, combined with big data, can help Singapore understand everything from carbon monoxide emissions and traffic flow to the number of people using the crosswalks. It has the potential to make our environment and everyday lives more efficient and sustainable. However, unsecured IoT devices, from smart lamp posts and sensors to network-connected biometric sensors and even fish tanks, can provide additional entry points for cyber-criminals.

As we’ve seen with recent cyber-attacks, today’s cyber-criminals are no longer purely after financial gain. They endeavour to sow disruption and erode public trust in an organisation’s ability to safeguard data and keep our everyday lives running normally.

The success of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision will be heavily dependent on its ability to mitigate new forms of cyber risk. Alongside speed in the delivery of public services, business transactions and even social interactions, there is a pressing need for speed in addressing cyber-threats that can come from anywhere and move faster than ever before.

These threats are outpacing the efforts of human security teams and organisations can no longer hide behind a cloak of ignorance or a lack of resources. There is a solution – governments around the world, including Singapore’s, are starting to focus their attention on AI and this new class of technology can be used in cyber defence to autonomously detect and halt novel attacks. In fact, this is already being adopted by local companies big and small.

For the first time, local organisations have the opportunity to be on the front foot. Cyber security does not need to be seen as a necessary evil or a set of limiting technologies, policies and procedures that cripple business growth. Rather, it becomes an enabler that would be imperative for Singapore’s Smart Nation transition.

Attributed to Sanjay Aurora, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Darktrace

During this year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and how we need to accelerate our use of IT to create opportunities and make Singapore an “outstanding place to live, work and play.” This includes the mainstream adoption of electronic payments, deployment of sensor networks and using big data.

While we should be excited at the prospect of new possibilities, these technologies bring a new type of cyber risk into the equation. Local organisations will therefore need to relook their fundamental approach to cyber defence as a part of realising their Smart Nation ambitions.

Cashless payments no doubt deliver convenience, ease of transaction and allow individuals to better keep track of spending. At the same time, we’ve seen a rise in text message scams called “smishing,” which can infect smartphones and result in the theft of personal information.

Sensor networks, or IoT, combined with big data, can help Singapore understand everything from carbon monoxide emissions and traffic flow to the number of people using the crosswalks. It has the potential to make our environment and everyday lives more efficient and sustainable. However, unsecured IoT devices, from smart lamp posts and sensors to network-connected biometric sensors and even fish tanks, can provide additional entry points for cyber-criminals.

As we’ve seen with recent cyber-attacks, today’s cyber-criminals are no longer purely after financial gain. They endeavour to sow disruption and erode public trust in an organisation’s ability to safeguard data and keep our everyday lives running normally.

The success of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision will be heavily dependent on its ability to mitigate new forms of cyber risk. Alongside speed in the delivery of public services, business transactions and even social interactions, there is a pressing need for speed in addressing cyber-threats that can come from anywhere and move faster than ever before.

These threats are outpacing the efforts of human security teams and organisations can no longer hide behind a cloak of ignorance or a lack of resources. There is a solution – governments around the world, including Singapore’s, are starting to focus their attention on AI and this new class of technology can be used in cyber defence to autonomously detect and halt novel attacks. In fact, this is already being adopted by local companies big and small.

For the first time, local organisations have the opportunity to be on the front foot. Cyber security does not need to be seen as a necessary evil or a set of limiting technologies, policies and procedures that cripple business growth. Rather, it becomes an enabler that would be imperative for Singapore’s Smart Nation transition.