Cyber attacks on the rise in Singapore

Cyber attacks in Singapore are on the rise, with 72% of CIOs detecting more now than 12 months ago, according to research commissioned by specialist recruiter Robert Half.

Findings show that 85% of Singaporean CIOs expect their companies will be attacked more often because they lack skilled IT security talent – well above the 78% average of the eight countries surveyed.

The only two countries with a higher percentage than Singapore are Brazil (93%) and Japan (87%).

Singapore has the highest percentage of CIOs predicting “significantly more” cyber-attacks in the next five years – 30% compared to the global average of 19%.

“The fight against rising cyber threats is entering a critical phase as Singapore is experiencing a shortage of IT professionals with the right cyber security skills to defend companies against these attacks,” said David Jones, senior managing director of Robert Half Asia Pacific.

“Companies know they need to take action to confront cyber attackers,” said Jones. “This means investing in a cyber-security strategy that brings together the right mix of technology and people.”

IT leaders say the top three cyber security risks facing Singaporean organizations in the next five years are data abuse/data integrity (59%), spying/spyware/ransomware (54%) and cybercrime (53%).

“New technologies raise new security concerns,” said Jones. “This can result in a skills gap where the available expertise has not kept pace with the evolving IT threats.”

“As demand for new cyber-specialists entering the IT market outstrips supply, companies are being forced to reconsider their training and retention programs,” he said. “They are also recruiting from overseas, partnering with educational organisations, and developing flexible hiring strategies that include both permanent and contract specialists, including external risk agencies.”

In response to the new wave of cyber-attackers, almost a quarter (23%) of Singaporean CIOs plan to add new permanent IT security professionals to their team in the next 12 months. One in three (29%) say they are planning to hire IT professionals for newly added contract positions within their team.

Several specialised cyber-security roles are in high demand as organisations are confronted with additional security threats, including mobile, application and Big Data analytics security.