Singapore's Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity Josephine Teo also noted that Asean is the first and only regional group that has adopted UN norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. — The Straits Times/ANN
ASEAN’S cybersecurity efforts have not gone unnoticed at the international level at the United Nations, said Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity Josephine Teo.
This is especially as Asean is the first and only regional group that has adopted UN norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, she noted.
The framework has 11 voluntary and non-binding rules that describe what states should and should not be doing in cyberspace, including cooperating to stop crime and terrorism, and not damaging critical infrastructure.
“Asean has made good progress in developing the implementation checklists for these norms,” Teo told reporters on Oct 18, the penultimate day of Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW), held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
“As a result, these are serving as useful reference points for the UN-level discussions that will hopefully enable the wider body of UN member states to make progress in cyber-security cooperation.”
Teo, who is also Minister for Communications and Information, had earlier attended the 8th Asean Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity (AMCC) in the morning, where she discussed how to advance regional cooperation on cyber security.
She pointed out that the SICW has become a platform for Asean member states to engage on cyber-security issues with a wide variety of partners, including countries such as Japan, India, Australia, Britain, the United States and New Zealand.
“SICW has grown into a very credible platform internationally.
“It’s because of the open and inclusive way in which we have organised SICW, which allows for many different stakeholders to come together to have honest conversations with a focus on generating practical outcomes,” Teo added.
SICW has close to 12,000 participants in its eighth edition in 2023, double the 6,000 at its inaugural event in 2016.
More than 80 countries are now represented, a jump from about 50 countries in 2016.
David Koh, chief executive of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), said that at the first AMCC in 2016, CSA was the only cybersecurity agency in Asean, and there were no ministers in charge of cyber security among Asean members.
“But, in the course of the last eight years, because we started the conversation, we have been a catalyst in the thinking and development of Asean countries.
“They have had their domestic conversations as to whether cyber security is important.
“Now, many Asean member states have similarly either a minister in-charge of cyber security or identified one agency that is responsible for cyber security,” said Koh, adding that the active participation of Asean countries is a draw for international counterparts.
Discussions that have taken place at the four-day conference range from the policy and diplomatic aspects of cyber security, ransomware threat actors, and technologies like quantum generative artificial intelligence models and their security.
Teo said Singapore would like to continue to have global conversations on cyber security.
“It remains an area that is of great importance, particularly because all countries that we interact with have expressed the strong desire to grow their digital economies and strengthen digital societies,” she said. — The Straits Times/Asia News Network
