Opening Remarks by Minister Josephine Teo at the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity on 14 October 2026

Excellencies

My ASEAN Ministerial colleagues

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Mr Satvinder Singh

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

1. Good afternoon. It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity.

An evolving cyber landscape

2. In the past decade, ASEAN has strengthened cyber cooperation considerably. But the environment is changing very quickly. As digital transformation deepens, the security of the systems our economies depend on has become a strategic question for our governments, and not just a technical one between cyber professionals.

3. Three trends are amplifying the risks that we face.

4. The first trend has to do with Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). These actors are patient, well-resourced, skilful in planning their attacks and carrying out their operations. Singapore is not immune to their activities. Between 2021 and 2024, we experienced a four-fold increase in suspected APT attacks.

a) Earlier this year, we informed the public that a sophisticated threat actor had targeted our telecommunications sector. All four of our major telcos were targeted.

b) Government agencies and the telcos worked together as one team to address this threat. Services were not disrupted, very fortunately.

c) But the lesson is sobering: this was a deliberate campaign against critical infrastructure on which our economy depends.

5. The second has to do with ransomware. It is now a transnational criminal industry. The attacker, victim, infrastructure and criminal proceeds can each sit in a different country. No national response can reach them all.

6. Globally, over 8,200 ransomware cases were observed in 2025. That is one ransomware attack every 64 minutes.

a) In 2024, a ransomware attack on Indonesia's national data centre disrupted immigration and other public services, including at major airports.

b) In the United Kingdom, an attack on a provider of pathology services led to more than 10,000 outpatient appointments and 1,700 elective procedures being postponed. You can imagine, there is risk to life and limb.

c) These were not theoretical cyber losses. People felt them at immigration counters and in hospitals.

7. The third concerns emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.

a) AI helps defenders spot irregularities faster.

b) But it also lowers the cost of attack: a smaller number of bad actors can do more harm faster, and against more targets.

8. OpenAI’s models’ hack of Hugging Face illustrated the potential of AI as an autonomous cyber-attacker.

a) The AI models executed 17,600 actions over four and a half days. That is two to three actions per minute – a rate at which human cyber defenders cannot sustainably respond to.

b) The window to detect, decide and respond is clearly shrinking.

9. There are many more examples. I have prepared some information on notable cases, set out in an Annex that we will distribute. These cyberattacks were real; countries and citizens lived through their consequences.

10. Together, these three trends mean threats are becoming more persistent and prevalent. If we do not raise our cyber defence capabilities now, our citizens will likely bear the consequences - through disrupted services, compromised data and lost confidence in the digital systems they rely on. As governments and leaders of our respective Member States, our citizens look to and depend on us to take action. And so we must.

Strengthening ASEAN cooperation and readiness

11. ASEAN Member States do not have to go forward alone. Nor should we attempt to.

12. Our digital economies have expanded and are more connected to each other. Nine ASEAN countries have linked our real-time payment systems to enable cross-border QR payments. Greater integration means shared risk. A compromise in one country's payment, telco or cloud provider does not always stop at the border. This is a good reason to ensure that our response to cross-border incidents is also better coordinated.

13. Two years ago, we launched the ASEAN Regional Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), giving our region a platform to support each other when such incidents occur.

14. These foundations put us ahead of other regions. The next phase must build on them so our citizens can benefit more. Let me suggest two priorities.

15. Our first priority should be to help the ASEAN Regional CERT reach its full potential. When it works well, a cyber threat seen in one country should become known to responders in another country, early and clearly enough for the latter to take action, either to prevent a similar attack or to reduce its impact. This takes strong partnerships, clear procedures and regular exercises before a crisis.

16. Our second priority should be to ensure that capacity-building is focused, coordinated and relevant. Programmes should reinforce rather than duplicate one another. We should also help each other keep up with emerging risks. Most importantly, we must have the right level of participants who can help build real operational capability when they return to their home countries.

Singapore's commitment

17. Singapore is committed to doing our part alongside other partners. Regional efforts, including Thailand's ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre, contribute to our collective readiness. We should continue strengthening this ecosystem.

18. Cybersecurity capacity-building is essential to ASEAN's digitalisation agenda. Citizens and businesses will embrace digital services only if they trust the systems behind them. Sustaining that trust requires stronger cyber capabilities across our region.

19. Singapore's contribution builds on ASEAN's existing mechanisms. The ASEAN Regional CERT strengthens cross-border coordination. When we established the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence, in 2019, Singapore committed S$30 million over five years. Since then, the Centre has delivered more than 80 programmes for over 2,200 participants.

20. I am pleased to announce that Singapore will invest a further S$30 million to extend and enhance the Centre for another five years.

21. The Centre’s next phase will go deeper to prepare participants for incident response, critical infrastructure protection, AI-related cyber risks and cyber diplomacy. It will also work with industry and academia to meet ASEAN's evolving needs.

22. I invite Member States to share with us your needs to help shape the Centre’s programming focus and formats, to be more engaging and effective.

Supporting a stable cyberspace

23. Our regional efforts will need a stable and predictable international environment.

24. For ASEAN, a rules-based order in cyberspace is not a nice-to-have. Our prosperity rests on openness and connectivity. Clear rules reduce uncertainty and miscalculation. This is why, in 2018, ASEAN became the first region to subscribe in principle to the eleven voluntary norms of responsible State behaviour in cyberspace.

25. That work continues in the United Nations Global Mechanism on ICT Security. ASEAN should engage in those discussions with clarity and commitment, bringing our consensus-building experience to the global table.

26. In this regard, I wish to record our thanks to our Dialogue Partners for your continued interest. We value your support for ASEAN's cyber resilience whilst reinforcing ASEAN priorities and centrality. We look forward to doing more with you.

Conclusion

27. Colleagues and friends, threats and technologies will keep changing.

28. ASEAN has done well by working together to strengthen cyber readiness. We must build on this foundation with greater urgency to enhance cyber resilience. Let us commit to this task so that our citizens can continue to trust in ASEAN's digital future.

29. I wish everyone a fruitful AMCC. Thank you very much for being here.