Cyber ​​defenders from Singapore combat simulated attacks on AI systems during a three-day exercise

SINGAPORE – More and more technology is moving to the cloud – meaning its data is hosted on remote servers rather than personal devices – and integrating artificial intelligence, opening it up to new types of malicious attacks.

To enhance Singapore’s ability to counter these emerging threats, soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces and civilians from various agencies and key industries took part in a three-day exercise from November 12 to 15.

They had to identify and stop threats to a system that runs on cloud and AI technology, and six other key services: power, water, gas pipelines, the 5G network, airports and the railway system.

More than 200 participants, including those from SAF’s Digital and Intelligence Service, Singapore’s Cyber ​​Security Agency and 26 other organizations including the Land Transport Authority, GovTech and PUB, took part in the exercise, known as the Critical Infrastructure Defense Exercise (Cidex ).

During Cidex, teams were presented with various challenges that mimicked the tactics of real cyber attackers.

These included attacks intended to disrupt operations and civilian life, such as compromising a 5G mobile network and disrupting power supplies and rail operations.

In preparation for Cidex, the participants followed a six-day, practice-oriented training program.

Participant Neo Jie Ling, 40, who works in information security at telco Starhub, refreshed her skills in detecting and analyzing anomalies in a mobile network during the training and exercise.

She said: “I was mainly looking at the threat actors and trying to map out their tactics and attack patterns to try to see how these correlate with the data we’re seeing.”