SINGAPORE – Representatives from critical sectors, such as energy, banking and healthcare, took part in a whole-of-government cyber-security exercise over the week to prepare for attacks targeting key infrastructure that keeps the nation ticking.
The fifth edition of Exercise Cyber Star, organised by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), put more than 450 participants in a race against the clock to respond to and unravel ransomware attacks and malicious attempts to overwhelm a website or server, among other scenarios.
Besides handling the usual suspects such as data leaks and communications network failure, participants also focused on tackling emerging threats against operational technology systems – digital systems that are typically linked to essential physical services such as power and water.
The finale of the four-day exercise on Friday was held at the Ministry of Communications and Information building in City Hall.
It involved teams from 30 public- and private-sector organisations, including those from the Government, infocomm, energy, land transport, healthcare, banking and finance, and media sectors.
Teams from each organisation included technical professionals who scrutinise walls of code to identify attacks and decision-makers who strategise, analyse the impact of attacks and decide how best to inform the public.
CSA, which planned the programme with cyber-security training organisation Sans Institute, said in a statement that this year’s challenges featured a wider range of attack scenarios on critical services to prepare participants for the real deal. It added: “Cyber attacks on industrial operational technology systems in critical sectors such as info-communications, energy and water can have knock-on effects on other sectors for the delivery of essential services that are vital for our economy and society.”
These systems are typically separated – or “air-gapped” – from other networks used by a facility to protect it from th ..
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