Govt-to-govt cooperation now crucial in fighting cyber threats

AT a major security conference in Singapore last week, Amit Yoran, president of network security provider RSA, said that cyber security was no longer a technology problem but rather a mindset problem. The cyber security landscape has changed and business and society must change too if they are to have any hope of anticipating and tackling the threats that are increasingly today's norm.

Mr Yoran, who is a graduate of the US Military Academy and one of the founding members of the US Department of Defense's Computer Emergency Response Team, was making the point that traditional approaches to cyber security don't work any more. This includes individual countries trying to go it alone or organisations thinking they can keep intruders out of their networks on their own.

Cyber attacks have morphed dangerously from being a nuisance factor that occasionally caused monetary losses into a menacing tool in the hands of crime syndicates, terrorists and even governments aiming to cause harm and exploit weaknesses in the cyber defence of not only companies but countries as well. And Asia is particularly vulnerable - according to FireEye Inc, a network security company that helps clients probe and fend off cyber breaches, companies in Asia are targeted 35 per cent to 40 per cent more than the global average.