In the second Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise held at the National University of Singapore, over 200 participants from 26 national agencies, including Changi Airport Group, PUB, Senoko Energy, and Singtel, engaged in simulated cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. Organized by the SAF’s Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) and Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), the three-day exercise involved scenarios mimicking attacks on an electrical system, water distribution network, and gas plant.

To ensure realism, the attacks were modeled on the tactics and methods of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) and cyber criminal groups. The primary objective of the exercise, according to Colonel Tan Shengyang, Commander of the DIS’ Cyber Defence Group, is to train and prepare Singapore’s cyber defenders in critical information infrastructure sectors. These sectors encompass power, water, telecom, and aviation.

The scenarios, designed to provide participants with a nation-under-attack experience, required thorough preparation, involving about four months of planning and the creation of approximately 1,000 physical and virtual systems. In one of the simulated attacks, participants defended a water plant network starting with a phishing email and progressing to manipulation of values from the water plant by hackers. Military Expert 4 (ME4) Yvonne Tan, leading a team from PUB and CSA, emphasized the need to monitor vulnerabilities exposed to external-facing, Internet-connected systems and devise remediation strategies.

The exercise contributes to Singapore’s efforts to enhance its cybersecurity resilience by immersing defenders in realistic scenarios, allowing them to practice responses to cyber threats on critical infrastructure. It emphasizes the collaboration of various agencies and private entities to collectively defend against cyber threats that could impact essential services.