Welcome Remarks by Mr David Koh, Commissioner of Cybersecurity and Chief Executive (CSA) at the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Expert Panel Forum on 20 Aug 2024

Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information, Second Minister for Home Affairs, and 

Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity,

Mr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information & Health, and Minister-in-charge of GovTech,

Mr Joseph Leong, Permanent Secretary for Digital Development and Information, Smart Nation and Cybersecurity,

Esteemed Panellists, 

Distinguished Guests, 

Introduction

1. Good afternoon. Welcome to the fourth Operational Technology Cybersecurity Expert Panel (OTCEP) Forum. 

2. This year’s OTCEP forum has attracted the largest ever participation from our international and local partners, since we started in 2021.  The strong turnout reflects the growing interest in OT cybersecurity as well as the strong partnerships that we have built up over the past few years.  

3. I am very happy to welcome our expert panel members back to Singapore to participate in the Forum. I would like to express my appreciation for all other speakers, moderators and showcase partners who have kindly agreed to participate in this Forum. I look forward to the diverse perspectives and insights shared that we will be sharing, and the enriching discussions over the next two days.

The OT threat landscape remains challenging

4. OTCEP was first established in 2021 in recognition of the need to address the growing threat in our OT environment. From the 2010 Stuxnet incident, the EKANS attack on Honda in 2020, to the discovery of the PIPEDREAM malware toolkit in 2022, it is clear that threats to our OT environment are real and growing in sophistication and intent. Therefore, it is becoming ever more important to safeguard our OT systems. Threat actors have demonstrated persistence and improved capabilities to conduct malicious cyber activities against our OT systems. Any successful compromise of these systems, which the delivery of essential services depends on, will jeopardise our national security, public and environmental safety, the economy, and our way of life. The stakes are too high to ignore, and we must push the envelope and do more. 

5. Over the past few years, we have done much to strengthen OT cybersecurity as a community. But we cannot be complacent, as threat actors remain unrelenting and continue to develop new ways to evade detection and attack our systems. The growing convergence between IT and OT systems also expands the attack surface and introduces new risks that have to be mitigated. 

Empowering stakeholders, protecting our OT systems and continuously innovating are key steps to confront the evolving threat landscape

6. This year’s Forum’s theme is “Empower, Protect and Innovate”. This theme reflects the key steps we need to take together to confront the evolving OT threat landscape. We have to: 

(i) empower all stakeholders in the OT ecosystem through better and more robust training; 

(ii) strengthen the cybersecurity resilience of our OT systems by adopting the appropriate OT cybersecurity best practices and technologies; and 

(iii) continuously innovate and come up with new solutions to solve OT cybersecurity challenges.

7. To this end, we will be unveiling the 2024 OT Cybersecurity Masterplan today at this year’s Forum. The new masterplan aims to articulate a refreshed plan to address the evolving cyber risks and challenges in the OT cybersecurity landscape. CSA has worked on this extensively with over 60 organisations over the past 10 months, which also reflects our desire to establish new partnerships with more OT stakeholders.

Conclusion

8. To conclude, OTCEP has been a platform to facilitate meaningful dialogue with the wider OT community. We hope to continue creating more opportunities for everyone to come together and harness this collective wisdom to create a safer, more secure, and resilient cyberspace for all.

9. Once again, welcome to the OT Cybersecurity Expert Panel Forum. 

10. I wish everyone a fruitful time here. Thank you very much.