The Singapore Cyber Landscape (SCL) 2022 report published the Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore warned of the extended risk faced by the state from emerging threats such as ransom for reputation and AI-based cyberattacks.
We spoke to Kevin Reed CISO at Acronis as to what that means on the frontline.
- What are the key cybersecurity threats and trends that you have observed in Singapore over the past year, and how have they evolved compared to previous years?
Ransomware attacks continue to be prevalent threat in 2023 and continue to rise both globally and in Singapore. The initial access vectors shifted slightly from weak credentials on publicly available endpoint like Remote Desktop (which was common at the beginning of pandemic) to exploiting vulnerabilities in various public-facing services as well as attacks using leaked credentials.
- As a cybersecurity company operating in Singapore, what are the specific challenges you face in addressing the unique threat landscape of the region? Are there any notable differences compared to other global markets?
Singapore may be different from other markets because there is a relatively high concentration of data centers here in comparison to IT being employed by local businesses. Although the absolute numbers are not high – Singapore is not even in top 10 of nations by the number of data centers – this relatively small population makes the ratio of data center resources to population rather high. This skews threat landscape towards attacks on server systems instead of clients.
- With the rapid Digital Transformation taking place in Singapore, including the increasing adoption of IoT devices and cloud technologies, how has this affected the cybersecurity landscape? What measures are being taken to mitigate the associated risks?
COVID had much bigger impact to security threat landscape than IoT devices. Despite Singapore is full of the later, the weak remote access implementations drive the attacks.
E-sims are a new threat. A new convincing technology, but recovery protocols are not very well developed and do not take security issues into account sometimes. In the past, sim recovery required sim to be shipped to an address in Singapore or a personal visit to operator’s office, but e-sims are managed over the Internet and fraudsters take advantage of it.
There were other cases of financial fraud, for example SMS phishing attack against banking customers that bank and operators failed to prevent.
Also, there were cases of ApplePay fraud, which also shows that security does not always catch up with new tech.
- Singapore is known for its strong government initiatives to enhance cybersecurity. How effective have these initiatives been in reducing cyberthreats and promoting a secure digital environment?
The government initiatives include creating more public awareness about Cyber hygiene, programs for companies to have their products cyber labelled for security, and also a strong push for SMEs to strengthen their cybersecurity posture, and the government has helped to promote this secure digital environment. Efforts have to be made from all fronts in order to make this happen. It’s still too early to tell, we look forward to see the effectiveness next year.
- As cybercriminals become increasingly sophisticated, how does Acronis collaborate with other organizations in Singapore to enhance cybersecurity preparedness and respond to cyberthreats effectively?
Acronis’ strongly believes that information and knowledge should be shared with the greater Cybersecurity community in order to ensure the growth and development of the Cybersecurity ecosystem, particularly in Singapore, which is still relatively nascent and requires the close collaboration of all companies / communities to become stronger.
We have set up and operate four Cyber Protection Operations Center (CPOC) (similar to a Security Operations Center) in different geographies, one of which is based in Singapore, focused on continuous research, and raising awareness through research.
Threat research reports based on CPOC findings are published and shared publicly to industry.
Acronis uses the CPOC to provide vital information to our partners and customers about threats and risk assessment and the results are also published publicly to assist the general ecosystem on threat detection.
We work closely with the external ecosystem, including partnerships with local government bodies, Institutes of Higher Learning and Research Institutes on various initiatives providing recommendation on topics such as cybersecurity, research and policies.
Threat research reports based on CPOC findings are published and shared publicly, the latest one is the Mid-Year Cyberthreats Report. We also release content and article weekly on Acronis blog as well as send weekly updates on new threats and vulnerabilities through a newsletter educating customers, partners, businesses and general public.
Acronis had also conducted external information security awareness, training programs and cybersecurity clinics. The Acronis #CyberFit Academy was established to help equip our partners with online training and certification programs to build and reinforce cyber protection technical competencies and the latest cyberthreats – so that our partners are able to protect customers better.
- With the rising prominence of remote work and the increasing reliance on cloud-based solutions, what are some of the major cybersecurity challenges that organizations face?
Remote work and cloud solutions finally made perimeter-based approaches to security obsolete. On top of it, employees and contractors often rely on untrusted endpoints for accessing organization properties remotely. So, endpoint security, authentication issues and exposure of vulnerable services remain challenging.
- How is your company leveraging AI/Machine Learning to enhance threat detection and response capabilities and what potential challenges or ethical considerations do you foresee in the application of these technologies?
Acronis’ solutions use next-generation cyber protection to stop ransomware in its tracks – even variants that have never been seen before.
A combination of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence is used to detect and block ransomware attacks while providing recovery options in the event of an attack.
The Acronis Cyber Protect is an integrated cyber protection solution that helps defend businesses against all types of ransomware.
The solution uses Artificial Intelligence to monitor behavior changes that could indicate an impending attack.
Heuristics and signature-based detection identify known ransomware threats, while behavioral analysis and Machine Learning technologies can detect even never-before-seen threats.
