Lianhe Zaobao, 欧洲冷链遇袭 本地资料外泄频传 网安局促物流医疗等业者加固网络防御

(Summarised translation)

Following recent cyberattacks targeting cold chain management systems across Europe, which highlighted broader cybersecurity risks associated with operational technology (OT), Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) has issued five recommendations to help businesses guard against cyber threats. These include restricting remote access to interfaces exposed to the internet, strengthening identity verification and monitoring, and implementing network segmentation.

Commenting on the recent spate of cybersecurity incidents, Associate Professor of Practice Victor Keong from the Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD) pillar at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) told Lianhe Zaobao that the incidents showed how “threats are emerging faster and becoming harder to detect”.

He cautioned that although Singapore has not received reports of cyberattacks targeting OT systems, businesses should not become complacent.

Associate Professor Keong noted that OT systems are less commonly used by local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Their use is largely concentrated in critical infrastructure sectors such as energy, water and transport, as well as among large manufacturers and semiconductor wafer fabrication plants.

These organisations are regulated under the Cybersecurity Act and are required to report suspected advanced persistent threats (APTs) to CSA.

Associate Professor Keong also observed that cybersecurity preparedness among Singapore businesses was highly uneven.

Operators of critical information infrastructure and large enterprises are subject to regulatory oversight, have dedicated cybersecurity teams, and have established reporting and coordination mechanisms with CSA.

In contrast, he said, “SMEs remain weak in basic cybersecurity protection, are slow to remediate vulnerabilities, have incomplete asset inventories, and most have never conducted incident response exercises.”