Smart economy must be defended with stronger cyber security
SINGAPORE'S economy is becoming increasingly digitalised, with mobility, cloud computing and IoT (Internet of Things) making services more accessible to ordinary citizens.
The benefits of this are obvious. For example, it is now possible to do a host of transactions with a mobile phone - ranging from checking one's CPF (Central Provident Fund) account to banking and online shopping. This seamless ability to access services and information is one of the cornerstones of Singapore's Smart Nation push and 2016 will see many new services becoming available. However, digitalisation comes with a cost that results in security concerns. This has been so for the past few years but going forward, the dangers of cyber attacks causing major damage and loss will increase as criminals employ sophisticated hacking tools to exploit the data being generated with an unprecedented number of people going online.
Security specialists agree that 2016 will see a massive increase in cyber espionage and attacks orchestrated not only by groups, but also by nation states. Giving the examples of the recent US Office of Personnel Management breach, the attack of US retail giant Target and the Sony Pictures hack, they reckon more such attacks are likely. Despite its small size, prosperous Singapore is a ripe target. Take the example of mobile-phone usage. With a mobile-phone penetration rate in the region of 150 per cent, Singapore's monthly average mobile-data usage in the third quarter of 2015 was in the region of 10.9 petabytes. The app-based eco-system of smartphones is responsible for this surge in data usage.
There is no denying that mobile apps have empowered a large section of the population but at the same time they are a potential source of malware as very few users bother to put a robust anti-virus, anti-malware protection system on their phones. Trend Micro in a recent study noted that by the end of the year, the number of malicious apps worldwide will hit the 20 million mark, with the vast majority of them originating in China. Mobile malware will continue to affect users globally due to the availability of third-party platforms and channels that offer free app downloads.
As homes turn "smart" with a myriad of IoT-enabled devices such as TV, this opens another potential area of cyber intrusion that many users are not even aware of. For example, a login into a website such as YouTube on a smart TV which has no malware protection could result in passwords falling into the hands of hackers. More importantly, as more personal and corporate data go online via devices that gain additional functionality due to their ability to access this data, there is a real risk that this data could fall into the wrong hands. Security specialists reckon that this year, payment methods such as chip-based Europay, MasterCard and Visa credit cards and mobile wallets will be a new target for cyber criminals.
It goes without saying that Singapore needs to tighten its cyber defences and be alert. Fortunately, the government has taken a number of important measures, including the creation of the Cyber Security Agency. These steps are far more than what most governments in the world have done. Unfortunately, the govern-ment's efforts are only just a part of the solution. In order to develop a robust cyber defence, educating individual users both in the corporate as well as personal space on what constitutes responsible online behaviour is equally important. This is a multi-year task which needs to be undertaken on a war-footing. Singapore's cyber defences are only as strong as the weakest link in the system.
