Singapore is a hotbed for technological developments with numerous companies in the digital space working on technologies in finance, health, transport and many other areas. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have also taken business online and pivoted their business models and working models to embrace the new normal. With this wave of digitalization comes an even large wave of data, some of which containing sensitive information such as clients’ personal information and even financial data such as credit card numbers.
Exploits on Singapore’s databases are not new. In 2018, 1.5 million healthcare records were hacked and personal data, sometimes including medicines prescribed to these people, were exposed. More recently in 2021, the database of a large local telco was exposed as well, leaking personal identification numbers of around 129,000 customers, as well as bank account details of some individuals. The threat is real, and just a look at how numerous the hacks are and how large they have become on this infographic saliently conveys the immediate need for companies to stay on top of cyber security. World’s Biggest Data Breaches & Hacks
Cybersecurity is never just the responsibility of the database engineer or the “guys working on the servers”. It has to become a responsibility of everyone in an organization as long as sensitive or confidential data is handled. Even at the executive level, how we craft our roadmaps and portfolio has to take into account securing our technologies appropriately. To enable this requires a keen sense of the importance and relevance of cybersecurity topics, and a willingness to allocate sufficient resources to its maintenance. Just as we speak of Cost of Conformance to quality standards being much lower than the Cost of Nonconformance of having to deal with defective goods and recalls, we may say the same for cybersecurity. It is much cheaper to pay attention to cybersecurity and to implement the necessary frameworks and defences, than having to navigate the company through lost business, lawsuits and fines.
We understand your cybersecurity needs at The Learning Initiative. Speak to us to find out more.
Click here to access this useful article written by Kenny Chee for more information
By Sherman Ho
13 May 2022
