The UK-Singapore Cyber Dialogue was held in London on 13 June 2023 to discuss cyber priorities and deliverables for both countries. 

The dialogue was co-chaired by David Koh, Chief Executive of Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency, and Will Middleton, Cyber Director in the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Lindy Cameron, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre and senior officials from the Cabinet Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Home Office and the Department for Business and Trade participated in the dialogue, alongside senior officials from Singapore, including those from the Cyber Security Agency and the High Commission in London.

The dialogue is a welcome opportunity to further strengthen our countries’ already close ties in cyber cooperation, as reaffirmed by the UK-Singapore Cybersecurity Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), an outcome of the ambitious UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement.

The dialogue included exchanges on the cyber threat landscape, deterrence strategies against cyber threats, international cyber capacity building, international cyber policy issues including in the UN, and the role of public-private partnerships in cybersecurity.

Both sides explored opportunities to deepen cooperation and further align approaches towards Internet of Things (IoT) security, app security and cyber skills development. We agreed on the importance of security for apps and app stores, and agreed to further explore the potential for an international standard for the security of apps and app stores. We also reaffirmed the importance of recognised international standards and norms for IoT and agreed to continue work on mutual recognition of our schemes for IoT and to explore the potential to work more closely together on other areas of IoT. We also agreed to work together on mapping the skills and competencies of cybersecurity professionals in Singapore and the UK.

Both countries reaffirmed our continued joint commitment to supporting international cyber governance and capacity building, including in South East Asia through the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (ASCCE).

We also discussed the latest trends in cyber threats and opportunities to deepen cooperation to counter malicious cyber activity that undermines the rules-based multilateral order.

On 15th June, CSA’s Chief Executive David Koh also met with the UK’s Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins on cybersecurity of critical national infrastructure, and Director General for Homeland Security Chloe Squires on the UK and Singapore’s co-chairing of the Counter Ransomware Initiative’s Policy Pillar.

Both sides committed to continuing to meet under the framework of the MoU as a priority for our international cyber cooperation. Photo by J. Patrick Fischer, Wikimedia commons.