The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) have completed a two-day business continuity exercise to examine and strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to cyber risks.
The exercise, codenamed ‘Exercise Raffles’, was the sixth of its kind and was held on November 21 and 22, a statement from MAS said.
The exercise saw financial institutions respond to scenarios of cyberattacks and operational disruptions by activating their business continuity and crisis management plans, and practicing their public communications and coordination, MAS said. The scenarios included banking and payment service disruptions, trading disorders, data theft, and the spreading of rumours and falsehoods on social media.
According to MAS, information sharing among financial institutions and between regulators is one of the most important aspects of building effective cyber resilience. The Singapore financial regulator welcomed the first-time participation of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in the exercise.
“The continually evolving cyber threat landscape and increasing inter-connectedness in the financial sector calls for close collaboration within the financial ecosystem to effectively counter the threats,” said Tan Yeow Seng, chief cyber security officer of MAS. “Exercise Raffles brings together the public and private sectors to test the response capabilities and develop comprehensive plans to improve cyber preparedness. Among the many learning points from the exercise, was the need for better coordination to manage the implications of operational disruptions in one financial institution on others within and beyond the financial sector. Overall, the experiences gained would serve to reinforce and strengthen the financial sector’s cyber resilience.”
