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New cyber resilience centre to help SMEs fend off cyber threats
Spearheaded by the Singapore Business Federation, the cyber resilience centre will equip SMEs in the city-state with cyber security capabilities to mitigate and recover from cyber attacks
A cyber resilience centre (CRC) is being set up to help Singapore businesses – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which tend to be resource constrained and lack dedicated IT teams – bolster their cyber defences against growing cyber threats.
Announced at Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) 2025, the centre is spearheaded by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) with founding partners Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) and IT trade association SGTech, and support from the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA).
The CRC, when operational in 2026, will act as a support hub that will not only equip SMEs with cyber security capabilities that align with CSA’s Cyber Essentials certification programme, but also recover quickly when an attack occurs. This comes as more than eight out of 10 organisations report experiencing a cyber security incident annually amid rapid digitisation.
Through the centre, businesses can get access to a neutral and secure cyber helpline to get triage and immediate guidance during incidents, including referrals to incident response providers; a cyber security health clinic with diagnostic sessions for SMEs to assess their cyber readiness; and CSA’s chief information security officer (CISO) as a service programme, which provides subsidised access to cyber security consultants.
Speaking at the centre’s launch event today, Tan Kiat How, Singapore’s senior minister of state for digital development and information, said the CRC is “expected to improve baseline cyber security hygiene among Singapore enterprises, equip them with faster and coordinated response to cyber incidents, enhance trust and business confidence in digitisation and strengthen public-private partnership in cyber resilience”.
Yean Cheong, executive director of SGTech, said that as one of the partners of the CRC, the trade association will rally its 1,400 member companies to support the work of the centre.
“Through initiatives by our Quantum Security and Cyber for AI workgroups, we help SMEs strengthen their defences, innovate securely and build confidence in digital expansion,” she said. “Partnering with national and industry-led programmes like the CRC ensures our tech community can respond swiftly to evolving cyber threats and safeguard their reputations.”
Read more about cyber security in APAC
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The focus on practical defence and cooperation was a running theme at the annual cyber security conference.
To strengthen regional cooperation, Singapore is hosting the first-ever in-person ASEAN Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert) Incident Drill at the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence.
The two-day drill brings together 36 incident responders from all 10 ASEAN member states, five dialogue partners including China and Japan, and Timor-Leste, which is slated to become the 11th member of the regional grouping on 26 October 2025.
Themed Securing Network Devices at the Edge, the exercise simulates cyber incidents affecting network edge devices, like VPN (virtual private network) appliances and secure access gateways, which often serve as a company’s first line of defence. For the first time, participants will use the newly commissioned ASEAN Regional Cert information-sharing mechanism to exchange threat intelligence and technical expertise, as well as coordinate cyber security exercises.
The drill also includes a tabletop exercise on managing cross-border incidents involving critical systems and a workshop by cyber security firm Hackthebox on defending against advanced persistent threats (APTs), a class of cyber actors known to be well-resourced and typically acting on state objectives to steal sensitive data and disrupt essential services like power, water, transport and telecommunication.
Beyond strengthening regional ties, Singapore also renewed its commitment to global cyber capacity building.
The CSA and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) announced a three-year extension of the UN-Singapore Cyber Programme (UNSCP) from 2026 to 2028.
The programme equips national authorities with the skills to tackle cyber threats and participate in international cyber diplomacy, having trained 140 participants from 97 UN member states since 2022.
The renewed partnership will introduce a stronger focus on emerging threats linked to artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. It will also update its e-learning course on cyber diplomacy to reflect the latest global developments in advancing responsible state behaviour through the use of information and communication technologies.
