The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to continue collaboration on information sharing and financial services cyber practices.

The announcement follows a recent CSA report, Singapore Cyber Landscape (SCL) 2022, which found the banking and financial services sector suffered the highest number of phishing attempts in 2022 at 80 per cent of 8,500 total attacks.

The report also highlighted an increase in emerging threats such as ransom for reputation and AI-based cyber-attacks in Singapore.

The MoU enables the two organisations to share security threat intelligence and information through a secure communication channel and participate in cyber exercises to increase the awareness of and tools to battle cybercrime.

“Addressing cybersecurity is a worldwide imperative,” Christophe Barel, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at FS-ISAC, said.

“The increasingly collaborative nature of cyber criminals, along with the current geopolitical situation, makes active knowledge and information sharing across borders even more important to mitigate cyber risks and outpace cyber criminals.

“As APAC’s leading financial hub, Singapore plays a critical role in the region’s financial ecosystem, and cyber risk remains a top concern in Singapore and globally.

“Our longstanding close cooperation with CSA plays a critical role in building a strong, resilient environment for the financial services sector whilst improving the current cyber posture of financial organisations based in Singapore.”

FS-ISAC is also hosting its annual APAC Summit in Singapore, where security and financial services leaders come together to discuss trends including cloud, fintech, cryptocurrencies, influences on cyber, cyber resilience and cyber risks.