Singtel launched a new centre today that aims to train companies and their staff in the region to prepare for increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Simply called the Cyber Security Institute (CSI), it will allow companies to test their systems in a “cyber firing range” against real threats.
The 10,000-square feet venue is also an educational institute, touted by Singtel today as the first such centre in the region.
C-level executives, for example, will be trained to be aware of cyber threats and come up with continuity plans and crisis communications in the event of a cyber attack.
The move by Singapore’s largest telecom operator deepens its involvement in the cyber security space, as companies move to shore up defences with the recent concern with cyber security worldwide.
In October 2014, it had inked a deal with American cyber security firm FireEye to run a number of security operations centres in the region.
Singapore itself has been boosting cyber security capabilities after high-profile threats and attacks on government and private sector organisations in 2013.
In January 2015, the government set up a new cyber security agency to bolster the country’s capabilities in the area.
Separately, in January this year, Japanese conglomerate NEC launched a Cyber Security Factory in Singapore that provides round-the-clock surveillance for customers as well as hands-on training for security professionals.
According to Singtel’s chief executive officer for group enterprise, Bill Chang, more than 85 per cent of companies it has engaged with do not have robust response plans or the chance to test such plans out.
“This lack of cyber preparedness is worsened by the severe global shortfall of trained cyber security experts, which Forbes puts at some 1 million in 2016,” he said of a recent report by the current affairs magazine.
