Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) has teamed up with industrial cybersecurity company Dragos to enhance the country's operational technology (OT) security capabilities.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two covers information-sharing, capacity and capability-building for Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity to help Singapore defend against cyber-attacks.
During the three-year agreement with Dragos, CSA plans to engage OT security experts to share threat intelligence and expertise in threat detection and hunting.
They would also conduct architecture reviews and cyber risk assessments of OT systems in critical information infrastructure (CII) sectors.
Dragos will further contribute to Singapore’s national and sectoral OT cybersecurity incident response framework by augmenting CSA and CII sector leads’ efforts to deal with sophisticated OT cyber attacks requiring niche or deep capabilities.
Areas of collaboration
Under Singapore’s OT Cybersecurity Masterplan, CSA is working closely with Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) owners and sector leads for cyber resiliency.
The MOU will provide CII sectors access to expert knowledge and opportunities for local cybersecurity companies to work with Dragos.
According to CSA, the areas of collaboration would be:
- Threat intelligence: Sharing of threat intelligence and expertise in the area of threat detection/hunting.
- Consultancy and risk assessment: Conducting architecture reviews and cyber risk assessments in OT CII sectors.
- Incident response: Contributing to Singapore’s national/sectoral OT cybersecurity incident response framework by augmenting CSA and CII sector leads’ efforts to deal with sophisticated OT cyber-attacks requiring niche capabilities.
- Information exchange and training: Providing a platform to exchange ideas, insights and expertise, such as through talent development programmes and fostering alignment with industry best practices.
CSA's chief executive and commissioner of cybersecurity, David Koh, said OT systems, are increasingly connected to the internet for better productivity or efficiency, but this also means a successful cyber-attack can disrupt the delivery of critical services, or lead to serious real-world consequences.
The partnership will build Singapore’s technological capabilities in incident response and threat detection for OT systems, he added.
Separately, the CSA Academy will jointly organise a Singapore-Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity 301 (SG-ICS301) course with the CISA to equip candidates with concepts, theories and practical hands-on experience for security OT networks and systems from cyber-attacks.
CSA said the participants will be able to hear from a panel of local and international OT security practitioners on how to put defence-in-depth in actual deployment for a safer operational environment and the key security considerations when designing and implementing OT networks.
In another deal, ST Engineering and Siemens Energy will collaborate on OT cybersecurity to enhance the resilience of the critical infrastructure in Singapore.
Siemens Energy will provide the experience and innovation as a global OEM while ST Engineering intends to empower regional integration and execution. The partners will facilitate knowledge sharing, information exchange, and joint exploration or entry into new markets and use cases.
