Information Technology

Singapore and the European Union (EU) have signed a partnership agreement to drive collaboration across multiple areas in the cross-border digital economy. These include digital payments, trusted data flows, 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital identities. The EU-Singapore Digital Partnership provides an “overarching framework for all areas of bilateral digital cooperation” between the two partners, according to a joint statement released Wednesday by Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Communications and Information, and Infocomm Media DevelopmentAuthority. The agreement also will encompass efforts to drive digital upskilling for workers as well as digital transformation of businesses and public services. With the formalisation of the partnership, both sides on Wednesday also signed the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Principles, which paves the way towards a legally binding digital trade agreement between Singapore and the EU. The trade principles will facilitate cross-border data flows, allowing for cost savings with the use of electronic documentation and authentication, as well as provide consumers with greater protection for online purchases. The two partners will develop pilot projects in the digitalisation and recognition of trade administration and commercial documents, and e-invoicing to ease transactions and reduce cost for businesses. Government officials from both sides now will look to kick off further collaboration in exchanging best practices and developing projects across various areas, including AI governance, cross-border digital transactions, and digital identities. Efforts also will support digital transformation of their respective small and midsize businesses (SMBs). In addition, bilateral cooperation in digital infrastructures will include data centres and submarine telecommunications cables, as these are critical to facilitate cross-border connectivity. Both sides also will drive the development and adoption of 5G technologies through use cases and potential collaboration in research and development trials. In the area of cybersecurity, Singapore and EU will continue to partner up in the security certifications and standards, including mutual recognition where appropriate. Both sides also will exchange information on the semiconductor supply chain to anticipate potential disruptions as well as collaborate in research and cybersecurity testing for semiconductors. Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran said: “The EU-Singapore Digital Partnership strengthens connectivity and interoperability between the digital markets of the EU and Singapore. It will enable our people and businesses to transact digitally more seamlessly and at lower costs.”He added that the digital trade principles would provide “legal certainty” for cross-border digital trade between both sides. Singapore, which has a free trade agreement with the EU since November 2019, counts the EU as its fourth-largest goods trade partner globally, with bilateral trade clocking SG$102 billion ($77.57 billion) in 2021. The EU also is Singapore’s second-largest foreign investor and second-largest services trade partner, with bilateral trade in services crossing SG$67 billion. It is Singapore’s largest overseas investment destination. RELATED COVERAGE More

Image: Getty/Bojan89 More than one hundred different cyber criminal gangs are actively conducting ransomware attacks, deploying over 50 different ransomware families in campaigns which see them encrypt networks and demand a ransom payment for the decryption key.  The analysis from Microsoft Security Intelligence notes that some of the most prominent ransomware attacks of recent times include […] More

Getty Images/Nguyen Duc Quang During the course of the past few days, it’s become clear to me that there is a serious architectural problem with how Apple manages files on the Mac with iCloud, and that design flaw can lead to extensive data loss. If you have more data in your iCloud Drive storage than […] More

Image: Getty Images Microsoft has warned that fraudulent Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) accounts were used in a phishing campaign that featured bogus apps that tricked victims into granting them permissions to access their email accounts.  The attackers used the fraudulent MPN accounts to register fake versions of legitimate-sounding apps, such as “Single Sign On (SSO)” […] More

Getty Images/Westend61 Organizations feel they are vulnerable to multi-tiered cyber attacks that can impact the entire software stack, as they face more challenges with a widening attack surface. As it is, 92% acknowledge making compromises in application security due to the urgency to innovate and respond to changing customer needs during the global pandemic. Also: […] More

Singapore now can issue directives for social media platforms to block local access to what it deems as “egregious” content. The new regulation also allows access to such sites to be cut, if the operators refuse to comply with the directive. Effective from February 1, the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act enables industry regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to direct “online communication services” to disable local access to harmful content. This includes, amongst others, content advocating or instructing on physical violence and terrorism, as well as content that pose public health risks in Singapore, said the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). First mooted in parliament last October and passed the following month, the Act introduces a section to the Broadcasting Act that allows for the regulation of online communication services. For now, only social media services are specified and subject to the provisions outlined in the new section. If issued with directives to disable access, social media platforms are expected to do so by blocking the “flow of content” from a specific source, such as an account, group, or channel, that is feeding the egregious content to their site. Operators of online communication services that have  been issued such directives must comply or face possible fines. They also risk having access to their services blocked locally, as the law allows for IMDA to direct internet service providers to block access in the event of non-compliance. IMDA also can identify online communication services with “significant reach or impact” as platforms that fall under the regulated section. They then must comply with codes of practices that may require them to implement systems and processes to “mitigate the risks of danger” to online users in Singapore from exposure to harmful content. IMDA has drafted a Code of Practice for Online Safety for social media platforms, which is expected to be implemented in the second half of the year. It includes the need to provide users with access to tools that enable them to manage their own safety as well as minimise their exposure to unwanted interactions on the social media platform. The Code points to tools that restrict visibility of harmful or unwanted content and that limit visibility of the user’s account. Under the proposed Code, online communication services providers face a maximum fine of SG$1 million for non-compliance. When the Online Safety Act was mooted in parliament last October, questions were raised on what constituted to “egregious” content and the law’s impact on user privacy and freedom of expression. Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo then noted that in cases where the content might be tougher to define clearly, IMDA would assess the context. While acknowledging that there were “legitimate privacy concerns”, Teo said the proposed code of practices would provide users a recourse such as user reporting mechanisms.RELATED COVERAGE More

Image: Getty / John Fedele Hackers are going to great lengths, including mimicking real people and creating and updating fake social media profiles, to trick victims into clicking phishing links and handing over usernames and passwords.  The alert from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) — the cybersecurity arm of intelligence service GCHQ — […] More

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