Speech by MOS Rahayu Mahzam at the AiSP Legal Investigative Experts Conference

Opening Speech by Minister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information, Mdm Rahayu Mahzam at the AISP Legal Investigative Experts Conference on 8 April 2025

Addressing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap through Public-Private Partnerships

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good morning and welcome to the inaugural Legal Investigative Technology Experts (LITE) Conference.

2. It is my pleasure to be with all of you today, as we launch the new LITE Special Interest Group set up by the Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP).

Cybersecurity capabilities must keep up with the evolving threat landscape

3. We are living in a rapidly digitalising world. Our work, finances, communication, and countless other transactions now occur primarily online, often without ever meeting face-to-face.

4. Driven by an increasingly rapid pace of technological advancement, the business landscape is also transforming rapidly. To remain competitive, businesses must proactively adopt the latest technologies and solutions to innovate and boost their productivity. For many industries, technology adoption is no longer a choice, but a matter of survival.

5. The government is committed to supporting our businesses in their digital adoption. Since the launch of the Smart Nation initiative in 2014, we have invested heavily in digital infrastructure. As a result, Singapore now boasts one of the world’s highest internet penetration rates. As of 2023, 99% of resident households have internet connectivity and 97% of residents own a smartphone (Source: Singapore Digital Society Report 2023 by the Infocomm Media Development Authority).

6. But increased digital connectivity has downsides as well. If everyone is connected to the internet and owns a smartphone, then virtually anyone, and any organisation, can be a target of cybercrime. And in recent years, the rapid deployment of cloud computing, the proliferation of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, and the shift to remote work have expanded the attack surface for cybercriminals even further.

7. As the world and Singapore continue to digitalise and move more transactions online, the pressures will increase and not relent. This presents a daunting challenge for cybersecurity, as organisations struggle to secure an increasingly complex and distributed environment.

Increasingly specialised skills are needed to combat cybercrime

8. Professionals, like yourselves, make all the difference on this battleground. We rely on cybersecurity professionals to be constantly vigilant, and regularly upskill to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape.

9. This is not an easy task. Businesses and governments may be constantly innovating and adopting new technologies, but so are cybercriminals! Motivated by unethical financial gains, these cybercriminals are thinking of ever more creative ways to exploit vulnerabilities in our networks. The technologies or tools they deploy, and the methods they use, are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect.

10. Moreover, the rise of generative artificial intelligence and advancements in quantum computing are introducing new attack vectors to organisations that are adopting these technologies. Cybercriminals may also leverage these advanced technologies to augment their attacks.

11. As cybercriminals use ever more advanced techniques, we need professionals with increasingly specialised skills to effectively respond to their attacks. As investigators, you have an important role to play. Skills in domains such as digital forensics and e-discovery are critical. Digital evidence left behind by cybercriminals needs to be uncovered and reconstructed, to identify the perpetrators and enable response and enforcement measures.

12. This is why I am glad to see many of you here today, to exchange knowledge, expertise and experience on cyber investigations.

Public-private partnerships are key to bridging the talent gap

13. At the national level, the government is investing heavily to grow the capabilities of our cybersecurity workforce. The SG Cyber Talent programme was officially launched in 2020 to attract more youths, women and professionals with adjacent skills to consider cybersecurity as a career. Initiatives have also been launched to further develop and deepen the skills of our existing pool of cybersecurity professionals.

14. But the government cannot do this alone. Team Singapore must work together to combat cybercrime. That is why CSA, together with the National University of Singapore (NUS), set up the CyberSG Talent, Innovation and Growth (TIG) Collaboration Centre in 2023, bringing together government, industry, and academia to nurture cybersecurity talent and encourage innovation.

15. We have also launched key initiatives to address cybersecurity talent needs. The SG Cyber Associates Programme was launched in 2023 through the CyberSG TIG Collaboration Centre, providing cybersecurity training to professionals outside the field. It has benefitted over 350 individuals to date. Just last month in March, the Centre collaborated with CSA to organise the Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (Y-CEP), which engaged 216 youth participants from all five polytechnics. Established in 2018, Y-CEP is an exciting bootcamp designed to spark students’ interest in cybersecurity careers.

16. Such initiatives are only made possible by strong partnerships between government, industry and academia. So, I applaud AiSP for launching the LITE SIG, which exemplifies this same spirit of partnership. I look forward to seeing active knowledge sharing and collaboration within this SIG, with the purpose of preventing and investigating cybercrimes. I am also pleased to note that this platform will provide opportunities to professionals in adjacent fields to explore developing skills in the cyber investigation domain.

17. My stretch goal for the LITE SIG is for members to contribute significantly to the development of new cybersecurity tools, through open-source projects and research collaborations. Such collaborative approaches are crucial in areas like digital forensics, threat detection, and incident response, where rapidly evolving cyber threats require equally rapid advancements in the field of cybersecurity.

18. The collective goal of cybersecurity professionals should be to stay ahead of cybercriminals. We can only do this if we work together to learn, innovate, exchange knowledge, and collaborate.

19. The government will continue to partner industry and professional communities like yourselves to keep Singapore safe in the digital world.

20. Thank you for being part of this noble effort.