Microsoft advances cybersecurity investments in Asia-Pacific with Transparency Centre and Cybersecu

from left: Government Technology Agency (GovTech) Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Poh, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector Corporate Vice President Toni Townes-Whitley,  Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Microsoft Singapore Managing Director Jessica Tan jointly launching the Microsoft Transparency Centre and Cybersecurity Centre in Singapore

Microsoft launched its first combined Transparency Centre and Cybersecurity Centre in Singapore, serving the Asia-Pacific region. The joint facility will for the first time bring together Microsoft capabilities in a single location in Asia-Pacific to deliver a holistic approach to serving the security needs of both the public and private sector and building a trusted and secure computing environment, a critical enabler for digital transformation. 

The Microsoft Transparency Centre is a cornerstone of Microsoft’s long-standing Government Security Program (GSP), which offers participating government agencies the opportunity to review the source code of Microsoft products, access information on cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, and benefit from the expertise and insight of Microsoft security professionals. Nearly 40 countries and international organisations currently participate in the Microsoft GSP program with 10 participants from Asia.

Sri Lanka CERT CEO Lal Dias attended the opening ceremony of the Transparency Centre and commented, “Cybersecurity is a national concern for all countries and how we counteract it, is of paramount importance to all of us. The Microsoft Transparency Centre in Singapore will function as a hub that can support countries like Sri Lanka to fight cybercrime. Although the cloud is a convenient platform and one of the best and most economical developments in recent times for businesses to store data, cyber security has to be a priority. I am delighted that Microsoft has taken this initiative to help countries in the region to develop this key requirement for functioning safely and effectively in this digital age.”

A group of students from the University of Moratuwa also had the chance to visit the Transparency Centre in Singapore as part of their Overseas Outward Bound Training Program in their MBA in IT (Information Technology). They met with Microsoft Asia Regional Director – IP and Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) Keshav S. Dhakad, who gave the students a detailed demonstration regarding a pressing concern in this digital age – cybercrime.

The Singapore Transparency Centre is a convenient location for governments in the Asia-Pacific region and will be part of a global network that covers four regions, joining existing facilities in Redmond, Washington, for North America, and Brussels, Belgium, for Europe. In addition, more details of other new Microsoft Transparency Centres will be shared later in 2016, including the recently announced Transparency Centre in Beijing, China.

Microsoft Corporation Worldwide Public Sector Corporate Vice-President Toni Townes-Whitley said, “Public-private partnerships are key to strengthening national cybersecurity. The opening of the Microsoft regional Transparency Centre in Singapore to serve the wider Asia-Pacific region, advances our worldwide commitment to drive transparency, security and trust in digital technologies in the mobile-first and cloud-first world. It is part of the Microsoft Government Security Program, where we support, collaborate and enable governments to protect citizens, public services and national infrastructure from cybercrime threats and to meet their rigorous cybersecurity requirements by building strong capabilities to protect, detect and respond.”

The Microsoft Cybersecurity Centre in Singapore, co-located with the Transparency Centre, will enable enterprises and organisations to tap into a pool of resources such as security specialists and technologies at Microsoft. With the rise in cybercriminal activities and the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape, the Cybersecurity Centre will bring forth innovations and advancements by way of security platform, threat intelligence analytics, advanced threat protection, machine learning capabilities, security services and cloud security in a comprehensive way. 

Keshav Dhakad said, “In the face of rising cyberattack sophistication, cybersecurity is mission-critical among C-suites and boardrooms. As governments and enterprises embrace digital transformation and strive for resilience, a holistic and agile security platform is ever more critical. This is where Microsoft’s unique threat intelligence innovations and trusted cloud ecosystem offer them powerful protection against security threats. Through strong public-private partnerships, we also empower them to investigate, disrupt and prosecute global cybercriminal networks.”

The Transparency Centre and Cybersecurity Centre will expand Microsoft’s public-private- partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, while enabling and empowering enterprises to manage modern security threats effectively. This will build on the momentum in the last few years, where the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) has fostered various partnerships with public sector and enforcement agencies in the region. This includes strategic collaboration with Interpol in global malware botnet disruption operations and a Photo DNA licensing collaboration to support Interpol’s efforts in preventing child sexual exploitation online, as well as cyber threat intelligence sharing partnerships with several Internet Service Providers in the region and government Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). 

To support a comprehensive, cross-company and cross-industry approach to cybersecurity, Microsoft invests more than a billion dollars a year in security research, innovation and development. This includes a recently announced global Cyber Defence Operations Centre (C-DOC), a state-of-the-art 24/7facility that brings together security response experts from across the company to help protect, detect and respond to threats in real-time, securing Microsoft’s internal resources, cloud infrastructure, customer online services, devices and products. Microsoft has also recently established an Enterprise Cybersecurity Group (ECG) – a dedicated team of worldwide security experts who will deliver security solutions, expertise and services that empower organisations to modernise their IT platforms, securely move to the cloud and keep data safe.