The digital economy contributed to more than 17% of Singapore’s GDP last year, driven by the information and communications sector and digitalisation by the rest of the industries, according to a report by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). The same report also reveals that the percentage of firms adopting at least one digital technology grew from 74% in 2018 to 94% in 2022.
Even though digitalisation can help improve business resilience and growth, it can also introduce challenges such as widening the attack surface internally and within the connected supply chains. Addressing such risks calls for a collaborative effort from both upstream and downstream stakeholders in the industry, says Sean Yang, Huawei’s global cyber security and privacy officer, in his keynote at GovWare 2023 in Singapore. Companies, he adds, need to build security into products as well as effectively manage vulnerabilities among their suppliers, in open source software, research and development, and production management.
Walking the talk, Huawei has been continuously enhancing its cybersecurity measures to safeguard its digital assets from evolving cyber threats. This includes efforts to ramp up its ability to provide stable, reliable, secure and sustainable cloud services to businesses in Singapore as new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are further integrated into the communications infrastructure.
A certified trusted partner
As a testament to its efforts, Huawei was awarded the Cyber Trust mark (Advocate) by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) on Oct 17 at the GovWare 2023 event.
The Cyber Trust mark serves as a mark of distinction and a visible indicator for organisations to demonstrate that they have put in place good cybersecurity preparedness and measures that are commensurate with their cybersecurity risk profile, to upkeep their cybersecurity posture and protect their operations and customers from cyber attacks. It also indicates that the organisation has invested significant expertise and resources to manage and protect its IT infrastructure.
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There are five tiers to the Cyber Trust mark certification. The Cyber Trust mark (Advocate) is awarded to organisations that are independently assessed on 22 domains comprising cyber governance and oversight, cyber education, information asset protection, secure access and environment, and cybersecurity resilience. By achieving this certification, Huawei has demonstrated a strong commitment to upkeep a high standard in its cyber posture, providing a high level of assurance to its partners and customers.
“Cybersecurity is Huawei’s top priority, and certification is the most effective way to demonstrate our commitment and credibility in cybersecurity, hence building trust with our stakeholders. Huawei advocates and promotes the establishment of cybersecurity standards that are globally recognised and agreed upon, including supporting local certification led by local regulators,” says Foo Fang Yong, CEO of Huawei International.
He continues: “It is our collective responsibility to strengthen the cyber readiness of the entire ecosystem and promote the cyber safety for Singapore’s critical information infrastructure, which is why we embark on this Cyber Trust mark certification developed by CSA, aligning ourselves with the nation’s highest standard. We look forward to continuing to work with CSA and supporting initiatives that enable businesses to improve their cybersecurity preparedness in Singapore.”
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Championing cybersecurity
With a strong belief in the need for cybersecurity standards, Huawei actively participates in existing industry standards organisations and advocates the establishment of new industry standards. It has joined more than 360 standards organisations, industry alliances and open-source communities, and held over 300 key positions, including board or executive committee membership.
It has also submitted 251 security standard proposals to the 3GPP SA Working Group, and promoted the 5G security project initiative while working with industry leaders to complete 5G security architecture and incorporate it into the 3GPP 5G security specifications, among others. Most recently, the company launched a White Paper at GovWare 2023 to share best practices for managing vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
Besides that, Huawei has been one of the advocate partners for CSA’s SG Cyber Safe Partnership Programme since 2021. Under the programme, Huawei works with CSA to help organisations in Singapore bolster their cyber defence, boost cybersecurity awareness, and encourage them to attain CSA’s Cyber Essentials mark.
Huawei also achieved the Data Protection Trustmark certification by Singapore’s IMDA in 2022, recognising the soundness and accountability of the company’s data protection practices.
Additionally, Huawei recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) to jointly nurture more ICT and cybersecurity talent in Asean. It will support AiSP’s community outreach by organising at least three learning journeys for the East Coast GRC, IMDA and People’s Association, and supporting at least four scam/Digital for Life events each year in 2024 and 2025.
Moreover, Huawei will provide online training resources to at least 80 AiSP members annually for the next two years and certify those who successfully complete the course and examination. It will also promote AiSP’s Qualified Information Security Associate (QISA)/Qualified Information Security Professional (QISP) certification on its platform, and get a minimum of 80 Huawei employees certified in QISA/QISP annually in 2024 and 2025.
