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David Boey

Singapore’s new Defence Cyber Organisation (DCO), which aims to strengthen the nation’s ability to deter current and anticipated threats in cyberspace, seems to have come not a moment too soon.

Just days before Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced the new organisation on March 4, the network of the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) was hacked.
While no sensitive military information was lost, the personal information of some 850 people on its “I-net” system, which is separate from servers holding classified information, was stolen.
One analyst said there was a “high probability” that the hack was state-sponsored. Others believe the attack is a sign of things to come.

Mindef has created cyberdefence roles, and soldiers are expected to be trained and in position from August this year. Both full-time national servicemen and operationally ready national servicemen with the requisite backgrounds will take on these new roles.
They will no doubt have to be on their toes, since Singapore is one of the world’s most digitally connected nations. This means that DCO’s cyberdefenders need to be equipped with the proper techniques, tactics and procedures to fight and prevail in cyberwarfare.
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The Cyber Security Strategy that Singapore released last year underscored the high stakes. The document forecasts that cyberattacks on the republic’s critical information infrastructure (CII) “may have spillover effects regionally and globally”.

All over the world, governments are grappling with defining the threshold at which a cyberattack would justify the use of military force in retaliation.
Britain’s National Cyber Security Strategy indicates that the “full spectrum of our capabilities will be used to deter adversaries and to deny them opportunities to attack us”.
Japanese university begins training ‘white-hat’ hackers to probe cybersecurity weaknesses
The strategy against cyberattacks articulated by the United States Department of Defence (DoD) mentions the “full range of tools” and adds: “To ensure unity of effort, DoD will enable combatant commands to plan and synchronise cyberoperations with kinetic operations across all domains of military operations.”

An assault on a computer network that controls infrastructures such as ports, power or water supplies, or a country’s banking system could be as devastating as a conventional military attack.
Yet cyberwarfare is a relatively new battleground, so there is no international agreement on what constitutes proportionate response to various levels of attack.
Singapore is well aware that much work is needed on this front. Minister for Defence Ng told parliament last Friday: “The DCO will have about 2,600 soldiers [devoted to cyberwarfare], supported by scientists and engineers ... this is a significant build-up from the current numbers and reflects the importance of this new battlefront.”

That number represents about half the current troop levels in the Singapore Army’s nine active infantry battalions.
Defence planners also need to be vigilant to tell when a cyberattack crosses the threshold from an inconvenience to a public threat – one with a more sinister endgame aimed at knocking out vital infrastructure as a prelude to a conventional attack.
With digital systems now in complete control of vital analogue operations, those charged with defence must be prepared when enemies come not by land or sea, but rather descend from a “cloud”.
David Boey, a former defence correspondent of The Straits Times, is a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence


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Cybersecurity

Thousands of Singaporean troops prep for virtual war with real-world stakes

Recent hack of Lion City’s Mindef network highlights the need for new Defence Cyber Organisation

epa05655947 (FILE) A file picture dated 30 July 2014 shows an exterior view of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore. MAS announced in a statement on 02 December 2016, that Standard Chartered's Singapore branch will be fined 5.2 million Singapore dollar (about 3.65 million US dollar), for breaches of MAS' anti-money laundering (AML) requirements over Malaysia's state fund 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad)-related transactions that passed through the bank accounts between the years 2010 and 2013. In the statement, MAS added its intention to issue a prohibition order against former director of Goldman Sachs in Singapore, Tim Leissner, for making false statements on behalf of Goldman Sachs Asia L.L.C., and for his responsibility in managing the bank's relationship with the controversial 1MDB fund from 2012 to 2013. EPA/WALLACE WOON

(170207) -- SINGAPORE, Feb. 7, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen speaks at the oath-taking ceremony for the new National Service enlistees held at the Basic Military Training Centre on Singapore's Pulau Tekong, Feb. 7, 2017. Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Tuesday witnessed the oath-taking ceremony of new enlistees on Pulau Tekong, and launched a year-long celebration entitled "NS50" to commemorate 50 years of National Service. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)(gl)

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2014, file photo, a specialist works at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) in Arlington, Va. The U.S. Homeland Security Department is closer to solving the mystery about why the state of Georgia believed the federal government was trying to hack its election systems. An official involved in the investigation said Dec. 9, 2016, that a DHS employee in part of the department far removed from cybersecurity operations visited the Georgia secretary of state's website for his work. But the employee's system was configured in a way that caused Georgia's security vendor to misinterpret the visit as a scan of its systems. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Workers install power cables along a lighting gantry being prepared for the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore July 12, 2008. The Singapore F1 race, to be held on September 28 on a street circuit, will be the first night race on the F1 calendar. Photo taken on July 12, 2008. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (SINGAPORE)

A viruses list on a computer screen. Photo; AFP

Singapore Army soldiers demonstrate urban assault techniques at the Shoalwater Bay training area, Queensland, during Exercise Trident in November 2014. *** Local Caption *** Australian Army soldiers from 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, practiced offensive operations with their Singapore Armed Forces counterparts at the urban operations training facility at Shoalwater Bay in Queensland during Exercise Trident, November 2014. Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, AC, and senior defence and ministerial representatives from Australia and Singapore were also given a demonstration of amphibious capabilities during the exercise. The Republic of Singapore Navy Endurance Class Landing Ship Tank RSS Persistence hosted the soldiers for two nights during the amphibious phase. Australian and Singaporean land forces then conducted a beach landing to commence the assault phase of the exercise, sharing tactics, techniques and procedures. Exercise Trident is a bilateral exer

Military personnel listen to a briefing for members of the press at the Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Communication Centre at Changi Naval Base in Singapore. The Singapore Ministry of Defence said a breach was detected in its I-Net system. Photo; EPA

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Recent hack of Lion City’s Mindef network highlights the need for new Defence Cyber Organisation
