Microsoft and Cyber Security Agency of Singapore deepen collaboration to share intelligence and jointly tackle cybercrime

Dan Yock Hau, Assistant Chief Executive (National Cyber Resilience), CSA and Hui Li Lee, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore

Multi-year partnership builds on strength in policy, innovation and transnational collaboration to secure Singapore’s future

Singapore – 19 October 2023 – As part of Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) 2023, Microsoft Singapore and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) announced the deepening of its multi-year collaboration, committing to jointly strengthen cybersecurity foundations and protect Singapore’s cyberspace and expand on international partnerships.

Together, Microsoft and CSA will advance the sharing of information, analysis and intelligence on cyber threats, vulnerabilities, malicious campaigns and incidents, to build a better database of threats and vulnerabilities.

The collaboration will also support joint investigations and operations to address incidents involving critical information infrastructure systems in Singapore, and to apprehend and takedown malicious infrastructure that may be used for cybercrime or digitally enabled crimes.

The transnational collaboration across global, regional, and national cybersecurity will also include capacity-building in the form of joint workshops and training on Microsoft solutions and its unique vantage point for security through its investments in security research, innovation, and the global security community.

“Our longstanding partnership with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore reflects our shared commitment to build cyber security and resilience, as we enhance the security and trust of our partners and customers in the digital space. Such international collaborations are a key avenue to leverage collective capabilities and pursue the adoption of new technologies, including artificial intelligence that can help us combat emerging cyber threats,” said Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security and Trust, Microsoft.

Singapore continues to face an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape, where threats to digital peace have reduced trust in technology and highlighted the urgent need for improved cyber defenses at all levels.

For example, in the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2023, Singapore, together with its counterparts in the South China Sea, were targeted for intelligence collection. Singapore was also one of the top 10 countries listed as victims of the cracked versions of Cobalt Strike, which was used by cybercriminals to elevate and enumerate access after compromising a victim’s system.

The global report draws on Microsoft’s investments in security research, innovation, and the global security community, where over 10,000 Microsoft security and threat intelligence experts work together to block over 4,000 identity attacks per second. These experts also synthesized over 750 billion signals per second with AI to understand and protect against digital threats and criminal cyberactivity.

Amidst these challenges, defenders are being driven to innovate and collaborate more closely than ever to secure a resilient online ecosystem that can be dependent on. Singapore was listed as one of the governments in Asia Pacific that has revitalized its focus on the regulation of critical infrastructure over the last twelve months, with the nation-state advancing both critical infrastructure cybersecurity risk requirements, as well as cyber incident reporting requirements.

Mr David Koh, Chief Executive of CSA, said, “Cyber defence is a team effort. Big Tech plays a key role in shaping our digital terrain and are therefore important partners in cyber defence and cybersecurity. We look forward to working closely with Microsoft to advance our shared mission of building a safer cyberspace for all users.”

Apart from teaming up with ecosystem players across the public and private sector to innovate and collaborate for a secure future together, Microsoft also continues to build capacity for a skilled cyber security workforce through its Let’s Skill Up program, which offers curated learning paths to SMEs based on their employees’ needs. To date, the nationwide initiative, together with Microsoft Learn courses, have reached over 21,000 people who have mastered new skills in data, AI, cloud computing and security.

Microsoft continues its work with the CSA as an Advocate Partner in its SG Cyber Safe Partner Programme, and extends joint efforts to help businesses adopt security innovation, receive certification and learn security skills at scale through the Cyber Essentials mark certification, and most recently, through Cloud Companion Guides which help businesses address cloud-specific security risks and mitigate their chances of suffering from a cyber attack.

With malicious actors starting to misuse artificial intelligence (AI) to mount more sophisticated cyber attacks, Microsoft is fighting fire with fire, by bringing AI to the fight with the launch of Microsoft Security Copilot, which is now in private preview for select customers. This new tool in the Microsoft Security arsenal combines Microsoft’s vast threat intelligence with industry-leading expertise through an AI assistant, enabling security professionals to detect and respond to threats faster. Microsoft’s range of defence solutions also include Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a cloud-native platform designed to protect cloud applications from cyber vulnerabilities.

To follow Microsoft’s journey to build a resilient, digitally inclusive Singapore, visit the Microsoft Singapore News Centre.

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