A NEW S$70 million Infocomm Security Masterplan that will see the public, private and people sectors work even more closely together towards combating emerging cyber threats over the next five years was unveiled on Thursday.

The Infocomm Security Masterplan 2 (MP2) will further hone Singapore's public, private and people sectors' competencies and resilience against cyber threats.

It was announced by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) at the annual Infocomm Security Seminar, organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Ministry of Finance.

Dr Balakrishnan said while the first masterplan, launched in February 2005, was aimed largely at providing the public sector with measures to counter infocomm security threats, the second one will expand on that and engage both the public and private sectors even more deeply in securing Singapore's cyber space.

Four strategic thrusts

MP2 was developed through a multi-agency effort led by the IDA under the guidance of the National Infocomm Security Committee. It outlines four strategies to protect Singapore's national infocomm infrastructure and services:

• Hardening national infocomm infrastructure and services;
  
• Enhancing infocomm security competencies;
• Cultivating vibrant infocomm security ecosystem; and
• Increasing international collaboration
  

Under MP2, the Government, in close partnership with the industry, is rolling out new programmes to enhance the nation's security competencies and infrastructure resilience over the next five years.

Beyond local efforts, the Government will continue to exchange information and explore collaborations with other governments to combat cyber threats and foster close working relations.

For instance, Singapore will be hosting Meridian 2008, a key infocomm security conference in October this year.

Meridian is a platform for governments around the world to gather and exchange ideas and best practices in the protection of critical infocomm infrastructures.