Lecture on cybersecurity in ASEAN and Singapore - Definitions of cybersecurity in ASEAN (vs western definitions) - Cyber threat landscape in ASEAN / types of cyber incidents and cyber crime in ASEAN Why ASEAN is vulnerable - Characteristics of ASEAN in cyberspace non-interference, sovereignty non-attribution of cyber attackers - ASEAN cooperation in cyberspace AMCC (ASEAN Ministers Cyber Conference) ACICE (ADMM Cyber Info Centre of Excellence) INTERPOL

1. CYBERSECURITY AND
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
IN ASEAN AND SINGAPORE
Benjamin Ang
Head, Centre of Excellence for
National Security
and Future Issues in
Technology;
Head, Digital Impact Research
RSIS | NTU | Singapore

2. OUTLINE
1. What does ‘cybersecurity’ mean in ASEAN?
2. Types of cyber threats in ASEAN
3. What are the characteristics of ASEAN cyberspace?
4. How do ASEAN member states cooperate in cyberspace?

3. DEFINITIONS
Cybersecurity in the West
Confidentiality
- Data breach (e.g., OPM)
Integrity
- Critical infrastructure (e.g., water)
Availability
- DDOS
- Ransomware (e.g., MGM Grand,
Colonial pipeline)
Priorities in ASEAN
Cybercrime and scams
Child pornography
‘Fake news’

4. TYPES OF CYBER
THREATS IN ASEAN

5. SERVICES IN ASEAN AT RISK
Source:
Palo Alto
ASEAN State of
Cybersecurity
Report 2023

6. Source:
Palo Alto
ASEAN State of
Cybersecurity
Report 2023
IOT, PERSONAL DEVICES, DIGITAL
TRANSACTIONS AT RISK

7. CYBER THREAT
LANDSCAPE FOR ASEAN
Palo Alto State of
Cybersecurity Report ASEAN
2022

9. CYBER INCIDENTS IN ASEAN 2020 -
2023
Data breach in Malaysia personal
information of over 13,000,000
allegedly from Maybank, Astro
Indonesia data breach over
1,000,000,000 Indonesian SIM card
data, sold on Dark Web by Bjorka
Singapore data of an alleged
2,600,00 user accounts from online
marketplace Carousell, sold on Dark
Web

10. RANSOMWARE CASES IN ASEAN 2020

11. APTS TARGETING ASEAN FOR
ECON/GEOPOL INTELLIGENCE
APT Target countries Target entities
FunnyDream
(C)
Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand, Vietnam
High-level government
organisations; political parties
Platinum Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam
Diplomatic and government
entities
Cycldek (C) Laos, Philippines, Thailand,
Vietnam
Government, defence, and
energy sectors
HoneyMyte Myanmar, Singapore,
Vietnam
Government organisations
Finspy Indonesia, Myanmar,
Vietnam
Individuals
PhantomLance Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam
Entities
Zebrocy (R) Malaysia, Thailand Entities [source: Kaspersky]

12. CYBERCRIME IN ASEAN
INTERPOL ASEAN Cybercrime
Operations Desk reported increase in
2019
Botnets
Phishing
Business email compromise (BEC)
Banking malware
Ransomware
Cryptojacking
Vulnerability is due to
Quicker digital transactions
Greater internet connectivity
Growing digital economies
Asia becoming digital asset hub
Lacking cybersecurity investment
Low awareness
Source: INTERPOL

13. CASE STUDY: CYBER THREAT LANDSCAPE
FOR SINGAPORE 2022
Phishing
• 8500
• Double from 2021
Ransomware
• 132
• 4% less than 2021
Infected
Infrastructure
• 81,500
• 13% less than 2021
Website
Defacement
• 340
• 19% less than 2021

14. INFORMATION THREATS IN ASEAN
Threat actors
 Buzzers (PR companies)
 Cyber Troops (government backed)
 Cyber criminals (and call centres)
 Great powers
Examples of information operations
 COVID-19 pandemic
 Russia / Ukraine war
 Israel / Hamas war
Drivers
 Pro-western sentiment
 Anti-western sentiment
 Islamist extremists

15. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ASEAN
THAT ACCELERATED CYBER THREATS
Changes
Pandemic WFH
Pandemic forced digital
transformation
More IOT (Smart everything)
US-China Great Power Competition
Impact
More targets online
More data on insecure systems used
by vulnerable people
More reliance on networks
Impact on supply chains
Benjamin Ang | Centre of Excellence for National Security | RSIS
CYBERSECURITY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

16. CHARACTERISTICS OF
ASEAN IN CYBERSPACE

17. ASEAN PRINCIPLES & PRIORITIES
Mutual respect
Non-interference
Sovereignty
ASEAN states do not pool sovereignty
like the European Union
 sovereignty and non-intervention are a
defence against neo-colonialism
Priorities for cooperation
 Economic
 Political
 Security

18. ASEAN MEMBERS ARE DIFFERENT
Different legal systems (common,
civil, hybrid)
Different political systems
(democratic, communist, military)
Different languages and cultures
Different economic and cyber levels
Different alliances (US, Russia, China)
Different interpretations of cyber

19. CASE STUDY: VIETNAM
AIRPORT SCREENS HACKED
Cyberattack by 1937CN? 1
They denied responsibility
Vietnam Government tells
cyber community to show
restraint after attack 2

20. CASE STUDY:
SINGAPORE’S
HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM
Personal data of 1.5 million
patients, including Prime Minister
Lee 3
“Deliberate, targeted and well-
planned cyber attack … not the
work of casual hackers or criminal
gangs" 4
“We are not able to reveal more
because of operational security
reasons”5

21. SYMANTEC CALLS SINGHEALTH
HACKER ‘WHITEFLY’
‘Whitefly’ launched targeted
attacks against multiple
organizations 8
CSA comment “As this is an
independent investigation
report by a commercial entity,
we have no comment on its
contents.”9

22. WHY DIDN’T THEY
IMPOSE
CONSEQUENCES?
Difficulty of attribution?
Lack of capacity to impose consequences?
Diplomatic
Informational
Military
Economic
Financial
Intelligence
Legal
Power imbalance or economic dependence?

23. ASEAN COOPERATION
IN CYBERSPACE

24. AMCC DECISIONS
Adopted Norms
Support development of
cyber norms, referring to
2015 UNGGE
2016
Propose
mechanism
Singapore would propose
a mechanism to enhance
ASEAN cyber
coordination
2018
Agree to move
Agreed to move forward
on a formal cybersecurity
coordination mechanism
2019
Checklist
Singapore + United
Nations to draw up a
checklist of steps to
implement cyber norms
2020
Design by PresentationGo

25. 2020 AMCC AGREES TO ACTION
ON NORMS
Singapore + United
Nations to draw up a
Norms Implementation
Checklist with ASEAN
ASEAN to share its
experience and knowledge
with the UN
SG + Malaysia to start
Regional Action Plan (RAP)
Matrix

26. PROGRAMMES IN MOTION IN ASEAN
Capacity Building Programmes
ASEAN-Singapore Cyber Centre of
Excellence (ASCCE)
ADMM Cyber Info Centre of
Excellence (ACICE)
ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity
Building Centre in Thailand
UN-Singapore Cyber Programme
(UNSCP)
Capacity building with US, NL, UK, AU
Confidence Building Measures
Joint training between Member States
to improve communication
ACID Drill (ASEAN CERT Incident Drill)

27. CYBERCRIME
COOPERATION IN
ASEAN
Interpol Cyber Capabilities & Capacity
Development Project
Operation Night Fury (2019-2020)
- malware targeting e-commerce websites in
ASEAN
- arrest of three individuals in Indonesia
Operation Goldfish Alpha (2019)
- region-wide operations against cryptojacking
targeting routers
- located infected routers, alerted victims and
assisted with patching 78% of the identified
devices

28. WHAT ARE YOUR
TAKEAWAYS?