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Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Dr Vivy Suhendra

This post features Dr Vivy Suhendra, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. She is the Executive Director of the Singapore Cybersecurity Consortium (SGCSC) and an Associate Professor at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS).

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Dr Vivy and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Dr Vivy and why she’s doing this.

Interview with Dr Vivy Suhendra

What are you most excited about right now in your work at SGCSC?

I get to interact with very capable people from many different domains and help make connections between them! It is fascinating to observe how everyone brings the depth of knowledge and experience from their respective angles into discussions on a subject of common interest.

What is one unexpected thing about you that people don’t know?

I keep a handwritten journal. It is a bit more info-focused than experience-focused, since its main utility is to record all the little discoveries I’d like to revisit (like good food places!).

If you had not chosen to lead research translation at SGCSC, what would you think you would be doing?

I would probably have stayed in applied research, or explored other roles related to technical writing or science communication. Those have been aspects of my research life that I enjoyed very much, to find relatable ways to explain our work and get others to be as excited about it as we are.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

I would love to see innovations with systematic, meaningful blending of automated cybersecurity capabilities with human expertise, a Human-in-the-Loop system that is constructed with purpose and thought. The prevailing human + automation mix in practice tends to arise organically as we deal with limitations of automated tools, skilled manpower shortage, or both. Infusing methodical thinking to this interplay, I think, would give us a chance at harnessing the best of both worlds in a harmonious and maintainable manner.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

Cybersecurity problems often tangle with operational and usability factors in such a complicated knot that we may think no solution could possibly satisfy everything. But even then, I believe we should always push the boundaries of what is feasible nearer to the ideal. The CyberCall offers not only the funding support to defray the exploration costs, but also a platform for end-users and innovators to envision this ideal and shape something together that can be both innovative and practical in solving cybersecurity challenges.

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Dr Vivy Suhendra

Dr Vivy Suhendra is the Executive Director of the Singapore Cybersecurity Consortium (SGCSC) and an Associate Professor at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS). She has been responsible for programme planning and strategic management of SGCSC since its launch in 2016, working to facilitate collaborative research and development between academia, industry, and government in the field of cybersecurity. Prior to joining SGCSC, Vivy was a research scientist at Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, focusing on system security and content protection. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from NUS in 2009.

Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Prof Anupam Chattopadhyay

This post features Prof Anupam Chattopadhyay, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. He is currently an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Prof Anupam and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Prof Anupam Chattopadhyay and why he’s doing this.

Interview with Prof Anupam Chattopadhyay

Over the years, you have made many notable contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Together with my students and collaborators, we have been able to identify critical flaws in multiple cryptographic implementations; improved the hardware implementation efficiency of security protocols, demonstrated vulnerabilities in commercial consumer devices and enabled technology transfer through spinoffs – all of which are notable developments. Yet, to single out one contribution, I will pick the advanced undergraduate course on cyber-physical system security that I introduced, supported with practical experiments. Students did enjoy the course, got trained with state-of-the-art knowledge in cybersecurity, and many of them eventually chose Cyber Security as their career path.

What is one unexpected thing that people don’t know about you?

I like to cook elaborate dishes, naturally my forte being Asian cuisine.

Which emerging cybersecurity technologies are you most excited for?

Post-Quantum Cryptography. This is a field that will initiate massive change in the implementations of many major protocol implementations, requiring us to understand the fine nuances of performance issues associated with the migration.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

I liked the huge interest about the CyberCall proposals and was glad to evaluate proposals with a diverse range of applications and very practical real-world implications such as, maritime, manufacturing, healthcare and urban transportation. In my humble opinion, security is a two-sided coin, where designers and white-hat attackers both play equally important role. I would like to see more innovation in the area of security testing/verification, especially for complex systems with a lot of legacy protocols. Eventually, these studies pave the way for standardized security checks.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

Cyber Security research is now open with many frontiers, requiring a deep study, collaborative effort and steady stream of technology transfers. Through the CyberCall initiative, companies can identify the critical security issues, pair up with leading researchers and apply a mature technology to solve it. It is clearly a win-win with long-term positive implications in society.

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Prof Anupam Chattopadhyay

Anupam Chattopadhyay received his B.E. degree from Jadavpur University, India, MSc. from ALaRI, Switzerland and PhD from RWTH Aachen in 2000, 2002 and 2008 respectively. From 2008 to 2009, he worked as a Member of Consulting Staff in CoWare R&D, Noida, India. From 2010 to 2014, he led the MPSoC Architectures Research Group in RWTH Aachen, Germany as a Junior Professor. Since September, 2014, he is appointed as an Assistant Professor in SCSE, NTU and also holds an honorary adjunct appointment at SPMS, NTU. In the past, he was visiting Professor at Politecnico di Torino, Italy; EPFL, Switzerland and Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. During his doctoral studies, he worked on automatic RTL generation from the processor description language LISA, which led to a spin-off, and subsequently was acquired by a leading EDA vendor. He developed novel high-level optimisations, verification techniques, and proposed a language-based modelling, exploration and design framework for partially re-configurable processors – many of which resulted in successful technology transfers to the EDA and Semiconductor IP industry. Anupam currently heads a team of 20+ researchers, overseeing projects in the area of cyber security, computer architectures, design automation and emerging technologies. His research advances has been reported in more than 200 conference/journal papers (ACM/IEEE/Springer), multiple research monographs and edited books (CRC, Springer). Anupam’s research in the area of emerging technologies has been covered by major news outlets across the world, including Asian Scientist, Straits Times and The Economist. He is a series editor of Springer book series on Computer Architecture and Design Methodologies. Anupam received Borcher’s plaque from RWTH Aachen, Germany for outstanding doctoral dissertation in 2008, nomination for the best IP award in the ACM/IEEE DATE Conference 2016 and nomination for the best paper award in the International Conference on VLSI Design 2018 and 2020. Anupam is a distinguished lecturer of IEEE CEDA, senior member of ACM, senior member of IEEE and fellow of Intercontinental Academia.

Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Prof Gao Debin

This post features Prof Gao Debin, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. He is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Singapore Management University.

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Prof Gao and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Prof Gao and why he’s doing this.

Interview with Prof Gao Debin

What are you working on at the moment, and what are you most excited about?

I work on the research of computer security in general, with a focus on software systems security and mobile security.  I’m most excited about novel techniques in improving computer security, as well as the practice of “security by design” in system design and development.

What is one unexpected thing that people don’t know about you?

Probably a bit surprising fact is that I also work from the “dark side” in proposing, analyzing, and development attacking techniques.  Understanding security weaknesses of our current computing systems is an important step in the effort of securing them.

As a professor, what’s the most important lesson you pass on to students? And what are you learning from them?

With many real work examples, I try to let our students know that we don’t usually have a perfectly secure yet practical solution.  In practice, we try to raise the bar to a certain extent that the corresponding security risk becomes manageable.  Students also directly or indirectly confirm on such an observation via specific learning or research projects they participate in.  From the experience of working with my students, we enjoy the fun in various arm-racing exercises between the defenders and attackers.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

I’d love to see more industrial efforts in innovating human-factor-related security solutions.  We believe that human is the weakest link in many practical and usable systems.  Educating the general public on computer security and building novel security solutions that are usable for the general public is challenging while having high impact on our society.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

While having fun to closely interact with the industry partners, government agencies, and the academics, you also get to explore new business and funding opportunities.  Why wait?

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Prof Gao Debin

Debin is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Singapore Management University.  Having obtained his PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University, Debin focuses his research on software and systems security.  In recent years, Debin also actively participates in research of mobile security, cloud security, and human factors in security.  Debin is the program committee co-chair of international conference ICICS 2021.  He’s the recipient of the Lee Kong Chian Fellowship in year 2017 and 2022.

Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Prof Liu Yang

This post features Prof Liu Yang, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Prof Liu Yang is currently a Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Prof Liu and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Prof Liu and why he’s doing this.

Interview with Prof Liu Yang

Over the years, you have made many notable contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

We have been working on software security for the last ten years. We have established a comprehensive solution (using formal methods, program analysis and AI) to find and fix security vulnerabilities in various systems, including popular software like PDF reader and Chrome. Most importantly, it has been translated into commercial products via our spinoff Scantist, which has been used by thousands software developers.

Now we are applying this research to improve the security of the open-source ecosystem and help to promote software supply security adoption.

What is one unexpected thing that people don’t know about you?

I was once a shy boy and didn’t talk too much, and never dared to speak in front of the public before college. But it seems that being a teacher in the university has changed my personality, and now I feel that I am talking too much sometimes. 😜

People always use ‘race’ or ‘war’ to describe cybersecurity. Well, are we winning? 

This is a very interesting question.

Obviously, cybersecurity has become a global phenomenon and I have written recently that cybersecurity has become everyone’s business – if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Back to the question, for every cyber war, it is clear that we will win eventually, but the battle can be very devastating. If you look at the history of cybersecurity development, there has been consistent good progress of defensive solutions in malware detection, vulnerability prevention and so on.

But the sad news is that the war may not be ending as new attacks can be discovered or may be triggered by non-technological factors (like human mistakes). And the worse news is that there will constantly be new wars started when we develop new technologies like blockchain, autonomous driving and quantum computing. Human beings will not stop technological evolution; hence cybersecurity researchers will not lose their job, at least in the coming future.

The road ahead will not be easy, but we’ll do that much more to make sure it’s even harder or impossible to lose.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

Cybersecurity requires constant innovation on existing problems and solutions to address new cybersecurity topics. I hope to see new solutions using AI, and program/data analytics techniques to bring more intelligence and automation to reduce the need of security experts.

On the other hand, demand for securing AI software and Web3 solutions is also growing rapidly, which requires good solutions.

It will also be helpful to bring IHL’s R&D capabilities into the team formation so that the solution can benefit from state-of-the-art research results.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

CyberCall provides important topics and support proposals to help keep us going as a cyber-safe nation. Here, cyber-security experts, companies, contributors and end-users work together to explore a cybersecurity ecosystem that operates in the spirit of excellence. Take the initiative – we can build cyber security into everything we do for solutions that are safe, effective, simple and reliable!

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Prof Liu Yang

Dr. Liu Yang obtained his bachelor and Ph.D degree in the National University of Singapore in 2005 and 2010, respectively. In 2012, he joined Nanyang Technological University as a Nanyang Assistant Professor. He is currently a full professor, director of the cybersecurity lab, Program Director of HP-NTU Corporate Lab and Deputy Director of the National Satellite of Excellence of Singapore. In 2019, he received the University Leadership Forum Chair professorship at NTU.

Dr. Liu specializes in software verification, security and software engineering. His research has bridged the gap between the theory and practical usage of formal methods and program analysis to evaluate the design and implementation of software for high assurance and security. By now, he has more than 300 publications in top tier conferences and journals. He has received a number of prestigious awards including MSRA Fellowship, TRF Fellowship, Nanyang Assistant Professor, Tan Chin Tuan Fellowship, Nanyang Research Award (Young Investigator) 2018, NRF Investigatorship 2020 and 10 best paper awards and one most influence system award in top software engineering conferences like ASE, FSE and ICSE.

Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Prof Alex Siow

This post features Prof Alex Siow, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. He is a Professor (Practice) in the department of Information Systems and Analytics of the School of Computing at National University of Singapore (NUS).

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Prof Alex and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Prof Alex and why he’s doing this.

Interview with Prof Alex Siow

You have led and transformed many businesses through technological innovation in your career. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

I have been involved in many digital transformation projects since 1990 when I was the CIO of the Housing & Development Board. My greatest satisfaction was the introduction of workflow computing to the whole organization. During my time in NUS, I was involved in the digital transformation of the TechcomBank in Hanoi and my team introduced data governance, data visualization and enhancement of customer experience.

What is one unexpected thing that people don’t know about you?

I am more well-known as an IT professional but not everyone knows that I was trained as a civil engineer and worked as a structural engineer in HDB at the start of my career. Even less people know that I was at one time, the head of enterprise sales in StarHub.

Cybersecurity is a key enabler for digital transformation. What emerging areas in cybersecurity are you most excited about? 

I am most excited about the advent of DevSecOps as a framework to integrate of security as a shared responsibility throughout the whole IT lifecycle. Making security as everyone’s responsibility is the way to go.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

I am very excited to see many of the competing teams employing AI and data analytics to enhance cybersecurity. I would like to see more AI-enabled security incident management response (solutions) making cybersecurity management more pro-active.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

Singapore is one of the most innovative countries in the world because of many visionary entrepreneurs that are able to harness the latest technologies to enhance business. These include many innovative ideas in cybersecurity. It is important that these ideas that can elevate the cybersecurity landscape be integrated into the business landscape through the CyberCall.

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Prof Alex Siow

Prof Alex Siow is Professor (Practice) in the department of Information Systems and Analytics of the School of Computing, NUS since 2015.

Prior to the current appointment, Prof Alex was the Managing Director, Health & Public Service at Accenture Pte Ltd. Alex started his career as a Structural Engineer in the Housing & Development Board in 1981 and rose through the ranks to become the Chief Information Officer in 1989. In 2003, Alex joined the private sector and became the Senior Vice-President in StarHub Ltd. At StarHub he held various roles including Head, Business Markets, CIO  and Head, Enterprise Risk Management. In 2012, he joined Accenture as a Managing Director, Health and Public Service.

Alex held various appointments in the IT community including President of Singapore Computer Society, President of IT Management Association and President of PMI Singapore Chapter. He is currently the Chairman of the Cloud Security Alliance Singapore Chapter.

Alex is currently in a number of boards, including Toffs Technologies, DART Consulting, Red Alpha, SUSS, THK Moral Charities, Findjobs, KSC Consulting, Tee International and AMK-THK Hospital.

Alex’s book “Leading with IT: Lessons from Singapore’s first CIO” was published in Feb 2021.

Interview with CyberCall Expert Panellist Ashish Thapar

 

This post features Ashish Thapar, who was among a stellar panel of experts called on to contribute their technical knowledge to the 2021 Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation, an initiative by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.

Ashish is the Vice President & Head for Security Consulting Services – Asia Pacific at NTT Ltd.. He brings more than two decades of Information Security experience and leads security consulting teams across APJ region. He is also an active speaker at numerous security industry seminars, as well as an ICE71 mentor (full bio below).

The call attracts cybersecurity innovators with clever solutions to address challenges laid out by participating end-users. To remove cost as a barrier to innovation, CSA awards up to S$1M for the co-development of promising projects.

Imperative to call’s success, the expert panel provides advice on the technical novelty and suitability of submitted proposals. For their contributions in pushing the frontiers of cybersecurity innovation, we thank Ashish and fellow expert panellists!

Read on to learn more about Ashish and learn why he’s doing this.

Interview with Ashish Thapar

People know you for many things – an accomplished cyber professional, leader, mentor, author and speaker. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My biggest achievement is to be an avid learner & a collaborator; and these traits have helped me the most to work with people, get to know new things, take on new challenges, come up with new ideas, expand my network and contribute to my career growth and helping the society at the same time.

What is one unexpected thing about you that people don’t know?

I have been a trained Yoga practitioner in the past and can do some asanas even now 😊. It is really helpful for the body and soul if practiced regularly.

As part of the Technical Panel for the CyberCall, you played an indispensable role in evaluating proposals for quality and innovation. Are there any areas that you would like to see more innovation in? How can start-ups leverage these opportunities?

This was an exhilarating experience balancing an idealistic, risk-based and pragmatic view of things at the same time. However, the intent was very clear; i.e. to make Singapore end-user organizations more cyber resilient and secure. The other areas where I hope we can get innovative solutions for are: Autonomous Threat Hunting, SBOM Threat Management, Multi-Cloud Security Configuration and Reporting, XDR for ICS/OT Environments; AI-driven Third Party Secure-Connect solutions to name a few. Startups can immensely benefit from these opportunities by way of putting their solutions through a robust and ongoing evaluation mechanism coupled with a dedicated end-user organization. The startups also get funding support from CSA if they get selected by the expert panel.

Why should companies join the CyberCall?

Cyber attacks are becoming more widespread, advanced and damaging by the day and Cyber defenders need to notch up their game to fight the good fight. This calls for a team sport and CyberCall is a great initiative that provides a unique platform for innovators, cyber experts and end-users to come together to protect our cyber frontiers. It is the #MadeinSingapore #Kampong spirit at play here!

> Learn how you can leverage opportunities in the CyberCall here.

About Ashish Thapar

Ashish Thapar is the Vice President & Head for Security Consulting Services – Asia Pacific at NTT Ltd.. He brings more than two decades of Information Security experience and has been leading and managing security consulting teams across APJ region; spanning across multiple security practices including: Security Strategy; Threat & Vulnerability management; Governance, Risk and Compliance; Payment Security; Incident Response; Digital Forensics; and Cyber Threat Intelligence.

Along with his vast leadership experience, he also accomplished a number of global domain certifications including CISSP, CISM, CISA, SANS GCFA, CCSK, ISO 27001 LI and CDCP. In addition, he has also been an accredited PCI QSA, PFI and PA QSA for several years.

He is an active speaker at numerous security industry events/seminars throughout Asia, including coverage on live TV programmes and radio/podcast interviews. He also serves as a Lead Mentor and SME Panelist for Cybersecurity domain helping Singapore CSA, ICE71 and other organizations to help strengthen the overall cybersecurity ecosystem in the region.