Defense News
07/08/2010
Major Cyber Security Conference Set for Singapore
By WENDELL MINNICK
TAIPEI - Singapore will host the first Regional Collaboration in Cyber Security conference from July 13-14 at the Shangri-La Hotel. The conference will cover cyber terrorism, information operations, cyber warfare, wireless hacking and cyber crime.
The U.S. National Defense University (NDU) Information Resources Management College (NDU iCollege) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Institute of Systems Science (ISS) are jointly hosting the conference.
The theme of the conference is "Securing the Cloud, Web, and Virtual Networks," with a keynote speech by Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonia's Defense Minister. Aaviksoo was invited specifically to talk about the 2007 Estonian cyber war, said Robert Childs, NDU iCollege senior director.
The Estonian incident has sometimes been referred to as "Web War I" and Estonian officials blamed Russia for the intrusions.
The conference will have over 24 speakers and panelists, including John Grimes, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration; Brigadier General Mark Perrin, U.S. Army, J-2, U.S. Forces Korea; Brigadier General Brett Williams, director, C4 Systems/J-6, U.S. Pacific Command; Brigadier General David Koh, director of military security, Ministry of Defense, Singapore; James Heath, technical director, U.S. Forces Korea, special advisor for cyber operations; and David Aucsmith, senior director, Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments, Microsoft.
"The ISS is known for its broad-based advanced professional continuing education in information technology (IT) specializing in software technology and engineering practice and provides industry with strategic IT management, e-business and knowledge management expertise," said a conference press release.
NDU iCollege and NUS-ISS are coordinating with the U.S. Pacific Command, the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) and Singapore's Ministry of Defense to put on the conference. Over 400 attendees are expected for the conference. APSCC is a U.S. Defense Department academic institute based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Attendees will be a mix of senior-level government and private-sector representatives from Asia and the U.S. needing to form relationships and collaborate on cyber security issues, Childs said.
Singaporean speakers and panelists will also include Meng-Chow Kang, co-chair, Regional Asia Information Security Exchange (RAISE); Lim Swee Cheang, director, NUS-IISS; Derek Kiong, NUS-ISS, a specialist on wireless tracking; and Thomas Kok, NUS-ISS, a specialist on e-Crime management.
"We are now planning other conferences on the same topic at regional locations around the world," Childs said. "This is the first one and we envision it will be the start of an annual series of conferences on cyber security issues."
