Web: www.scs.org.sg
THE MAGAZINE OF THE SINGAPORE COMPUTER SOCIETY
9
PEOPLE
Watching Over The Nation’s Cyber Security To cyber security veteran John Yong, ensuring Singapore’s cyber security and creating awareness amongst Singaporeans is of the utmost importance.
J
ohn Yong, Director, Infocomm Security Group, Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore has devoted 36 years of his career to the field of cyber security. He was recently made a Fellow of the Singapore Computer Society and appointed a member of the Executive Board of Advisors to Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He was also a recipient of the ASEAN CIO/ CSO 2013 Award, which honours outstanding Chief Information and Chief Security Officers in the ASEAN region. Like Singapore, Mr Yong has gone through many hardships before arriving at where he is today. He considers himself the “result of a very good government system”, having benefited from the training that was provided over the years, he explains.
Military led to cyber security path
Joining the military as a regular was what led him onto the path of cyber security. Having an interest in computers and electronics, he was placed in a department tasked with ensuring computer security for the army and making soldiers aware of security risks. Twelve years later, Mr Yong, who had meanwhile attained his Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of Salford in the UK, was transferred to the National Computer Board (NCB), where he had the opportunity to “dive deep into some issues which were never discussed in the commercial space”.
It was the start of the 90s and Singapore was becoming an ‘intelligent’ island with e-communication established between government departments and between the government and citizens.
Entering business objectives into equation
In the mid-90s, after working for about 16 years with the government, Mr Yong went into the private sector to widen his exposure. In the private sector, Mr Yong had the opportunity to practise risk assessment and how to pitch system risks against business objectives. He worked in MNCs, banks and consulting firms, which gave him different perspectives on the various aspects of cyber security and valuable knowledge he could bring back with him to the civil service. Over the years, Singapore’s cyber security landscape has matured, Mr Yong observes. Awareness of the significance of cyber security is higher among Singaporeans than among the population in any other country, he believes. However he feels there is still much room for improvement in terms of catching up with countries such as Israel, China or the United States, in terms of technology.
Nurturing cyber security professionals
Mr Yong’s hope is to see Singapore become a cyber security superpower one day — a vision reflected in the National Cyber Security Masterplan 3, which, amongst other targets, has $130 million allocated to R&D in the field and to nurturing a pool of highly qualified cyber security professionals.