Protecting financial service sector from security threats gets boost from public-private partnership

SINGAPORE - The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre on Wednesday (July 18) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at advancing intelligence sharing and conducting joint exercises to better protect the financial service sector.

The MOU, valid for three years, was signed at the centre's annual Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore where security leaders from across the financial service sector gathered to solve cyber and physical security threats facing Singapore and the region.

With the pact, CSA's overview of multiple sectors will provide the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre with greater visibility of cyberthreats impacting the country, while the centre will offer a global perspective based on select insights from its 7,000 members, the two groups said in a joint statement.

The CSA is a government agency that oversees national cyber-security functions, while the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (FS-ISAC) is a non-profit member-driven organisation that aims to assure the resilience and continuity of the global financial service infrastructure against cyber and physical threats.

CSA chief executive David Koh said: "Cyber security is a global, cross-cutting issue. To deal with it successfully will require cooperation and intelligence sharing. This is especially so because the threat actors are actively sharing information and methods. FS-ISAC has made much progress in this area. We look forward to our partnership to address pressing cyber-security issues together, and to further expand intelligence sharing."

The centre's president and chief executive Bill Nelson said: "Cyber criminals are collaborating to break down defences, which is why it's now more important than ever for us to work together on the global, regional and country levels both in terms of information sharing and conducting joint exercises to stay ahead of cybercrime. Our collaboration with CSA will help us move closer towards this goal."

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