Cyber security incident response

LONDON: Britain on Thursday announced the formation of a National Cyber Force of government hackers to launch cyberattacks against criminals, terrorists and hostile states. It is part of a pledge by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to deliver the country's biggest military spending increase since the Cold War. WHAT WILL IT DO? The hacking unit, which has been operational since earlier this year, is made up of specialists from Britain's armed forces and GCHQ signals intelligence agency. The National Cyber Force "brings together intelligence and defence capabilities to transform the UK's ability to contest adversaries in cyber space", said GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming. Officials declined to discuss specific targets or operations, but said the unit's work could include disrupting terrorist communication networks, taking down organised crime groups and disabling enemy weapons systems. HOW DOES BRITAIN COMPARE TO OTHER POWERS? The announcement formally confirms Britain's role … [Read more...] about What is Britain’s National Cyber Force?

REUTERS: Manchester United have conducted forensic investigations following a cyber attack on the Premier League club's systems and are working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to assess the damage. United said last week they had experienced a cyber attack and had shut down affected systems to protect data, though club media channels, including the website and mobile app, were unaffected. "The NCSC is aware of an incident affecting Manchester United Football Club and we are working with the organisation and partners to understand impact," a spokesperson for the security agency was quoted as saying by British media. United said the attack had not impacted matchday operations. "Following the recent cyberattack on the club, our IT team and external experts secured our networks and have conducted forensic investigations," United said in a statement. "This attack was by nature disruptive, but we are not aware of any fan data being compromised. Critical systems … [Read more...] about Soccer-Man Utd working with cyber agency after ‘disruptive’ attack

SINGAPORE: To build up the Government’s cyber and data security capabilities, S$1 billion will be put aside over the next three years, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said during his Budget speech on Tuesday (Feb 18). As a small city-state, Singapore is vulnerable to volatilities in its external environment, he said, adding the country’s security remains a high priority in the Budget and must be “funded adequately”. He noted that as digitalisation becomes more pervasive, Singapore must be prepared to deal with cyber threats. The setting up of the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) in 2015 and the passing of the Cybersecurity Act in 2018 helped significantly raise the country’s capabilities in this area, he said. “CSA is preparing measures for the next level of cybersecurity, as we adopt more advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud and the internet of things, “ said Mr Heng, who is also the Finance Minister. “All of us - in the Government, enterprises and … [Read more...] about Budget 2020: S$1b to be spent on enhancing Government’s cyber, data security capabilities

SINGAPORE: More data incidents have been reported within Government, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) said in a release on Wednesday (Nov 11). A total of 75 data incidents were reported in Financial Year (FY) 2019, a 47 per cent increase from the 51 incidents in FY 2018. Thirty-seven incidents were reported in the first half of FY 2020 up to Sep 30, similar to the same period in the previous financial year. The majority of incidents reported were due to human error, SNDGO said, including inadvertently emailing sensitive data to the wrong recipients and misplacing IT equipment containing sensitive data. Another main cause of the incidents was a failure to follow established processes to secure data, SNDGO said, including deploying software containing bugs to save time, which could have led to a breach. "Most of the incidents were assessed to not have significant impact on the agency or individuals affected as protection measures had been put in place to … [Read more...] about Increase in number of data incidents reported within Government, majority due to human error: SNDGO

SINGAPORE: Government agencies have rectified about 80 per cent of "high-risk" data security issues that were found in a recent review, and work is under way to introduce new systems to improve user access security, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) told CNA. Findings of the review were released last November, after a Public Sector Data Review Committee inspected 336 systems across 94 public sector agencies. It was part of a major review to better protect the public's personal data. In its report, the committee said that about three-quarters of agencies had at least one finding of non-compliance with a government manual on data policies and standards. Sixty-four per cent of agencies were rated “low-risk”, 23 per cent were rated “medium-risk” and the remaining 13 per cent were rated “high-risk”. The most common shortcomings found were in the management and monitoring of privileged user accounts, user access reviews, as well as the encryption of emails with … [Read more...] about Government agencies have fixed 80% of high-risk data security issues found in review: SNDGG