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Forum: Rope in private sector to ensure safety of Singapore’s digital services

I appreciate the debates and perspectives by Members of Parliament regarding online scams and the resiliency of Singapore’s digital services and infrastructure.

I appreciate the debates and perspectives by Members of Parliament regarding online scams and the resiliency of Singapore’s digital services and infrastructure. I am also glad to learn that a newly commissioned task force – the Taskforce on Resilience and Security of Digital Infrastructure and Services – is being set up to look into issues concerning the safety and security of Singapore’s digital services ( , Jan 5). It is noteworthy that the group comprises members from the Ministry of Communications and Information, Infocomm Media Development Authority, Smart Nation Group, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore and Government Technology Agency. As IT applications and architectures evolve and increase in complexity, and as businesses and the Government become increasingly reliant on global cloud-based and other infrastructure service providers, it is critical that stakeholders from the private sector are involved and engaged in the process. For example, the outage affecting DBS Bank and Citibank customers in 2023 originated from a data centre owned by US operator Equinix and involved a third-party vendor contractor. It would be neither tenable nor equitable for the banks to bear sole responsibility. As several MPs have pointed out, an inclusive and secure digital society requires a whole-of-nation effort. The different perspectives brought to the table by an ecosystem of stakeholders will better assist the Government to develop a holistic and balanced digital protection framework, and one that will balance IT service resiliency with technical, cost and other considerations.