SIX months ago, banking executive Jeanette Siow, 33, received an e-mail message with information about an investment opportunity in China - from her own company e-mail address.
"I was shocked. Some of my friends called to ask about it. It was scary to know that such things could and did happen to me, and I don't know how to stop it," she said.
Ms Siow's e-mail address was "spoofed" - spammers changed elements of the spam mail to make it appear as though it came from her account.
She is one of a growing number of netizens who are grappling with cyber-security. Yesterday, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, announced that the Government will launch in September the country's first training and accreditation programme, the Qualified Information Security Professional (Qisp).
It aims to teach cyber-security professionals how to defend Singapore from hackers. "Cyber-attacks can affect anyone, any organisation and any country. An attack can cripple businesses, and even bring down a country's economy.
Building a secure and safe cyber- environment is thus a top priority," said Mr Chan, who was the guest of honour at the two-day event at Suntec Singapore which drew 300 regional security experts and regulators. He added: "Many of us have come to take for granted the mobile devices and social-networking platforms that let us stay connected with one another. We go online to search for information, make purchases, and complete business transactions on the go."
This trend is not about to slow down, he said, which is why "a high-quality pool of infocomm security experts is vital". But right now, said Mr Gerard Tan, the president of the Association of Information Security Professionals (Aisp), there is a gap between practitioners of cyber-security and those with qualifications.
The Aisp, a joint collaboration between the Governmentand private-sector companies in the cyber-security field, will administer the programme. There are tens of thousands of people working in information security here but, of these, only perhaps one or two thousand have any sort of certification, he said.
Mr Tan said Qisp will give cyber-security professionals an understanding of security laws and regulations here, such as the Computer Misuse Act and Electronic Transactions Act. It distinguishes itself from other established accreditation, like the United States -based Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Information Systems Auditor qualifications, which are more "Western-centric", he explained.
The three-month course conducted by the National University of Singapore's Institute of Systems Science will cost trainees $620, after a 90 per cent Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience grant. About 800 professionals are expected to take the Qisp certification over the next five years.
Mr Tan Teck-Lee, chief innovation and technology officer and president of digital-security company Gemalto's Asia branch, said the launch of this programme is timely.
"The cyber-security threat is on the rise as more businesses and end-users become more digitally connected.
Singapore's well-developed IT infrastructure and heavy reliance on technology also makes it a possible target," he said. Similarly, a report released by computer-security company McAfee last year singled Singapore out as the 10th-riskiest domain, out of 104 worldwide. It warned that more .sg domains are being used for phishing and to serve up viruses - almost one out of every 20 tested. That is up from just 0.3 per cent the previous year.
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"I was shocked. Some of my friends called to ask about it. It was scary to know that such things could and did happen to me, and I don't know how to stop it," she said.
Ms Siow's e-mail address was "spoofed" - spammers changed elements of the spam mail to make it appear as though it came from her account.
She is one of a growing number of netizens who are grappling with cyber-security. Yesterday, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, announced that the Government will launch in September the country's first training and accreditation programme, the Qualified Information Security Professional (Qisp).
It aims to teach cyber-security professionals how to defend Singapore from hackers. "Cyber-attacks can affect anyone, any organisation and any country. An attack can cripple businesses, and even bring down a country's economy.
Building a secure and safe cyber- environment is thus a top priority," said Mr Chan, who was the guest of honour at the two-day event at Suntec Singapore which drew 300 regional security experts and regulators. He added: "Many of us have come to take for granted the mobile devices and social-networking platforms that let us stay connected with one another. We go online to search for information, make purchases, and complete business transactions on the go."
This trend is not about to slow down, he said, which is why "a high-quality pool of infocomm security experts is vital". But right now, said Mr Gerard Tan, the president of the Association of Information Security Professionals (Aisp), there is a gap between practitioners of cyber-security and those with qualifications.
The Aisp, a joint collaboration between the Governmentand private-sector companies in the cyber-security field, will administer the programme. There are tens of thousands of people working in information security here but, of these, only perhaps one or two thousand have any sort of certification, he said.
Mr Tan said Qisp will give cyber-security professionals an understanding of security laws and regulations here, such as the Computer Misuse Act and Electronic Transactions Act. It distinguishes itself from other established accreditation, like the United States -based Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Information Systems Auditor qualifications, which are more "Western-centric", he explained.
The three-month course conducted by the National University of Singapore's Institute of Systems Science will cost trainees $620, after a 90 per cent Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience grant. About 800 professionals are expected to take the Qisp certification over the next five years.
Mr Tan Teck-Lee, chief innovation and technology officer and president of digital-security company Gemalto's Asia branch, said the launch of this programme is timely.
"The cyber-security threat is on the rise as more businesses and end-users become more digitally connected.
Singapore's well-developed IT infrastructure and heavy reliance on technology also makes it a possible target," he said. Similarly, a report released by computer-security company McAfee last year singled Singapore out as the 10th-riskiest domain, out of 104 worldwide. It warned that more .sg domains are being used for phishing and to serve up viruses - almost one out of every 20 tested. That is up from just 0.3 per cent the previous year.
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