Singapore refreshes cyber strategy with new national tool to block malware and phishing sites

A new service has been announced that that blocks access to known malicious websites, such as phishing sites and those contain harmful software. This prevents users in Singapore from reaching such sites.

Published Oct 13, 2026, 10:25 AM

Updated Oct 13, 2026, 10:25 AM

Singapore has launched a protective domain name service to block access to known malware and phishing sites as part of a new cybersecurity strategy.

The service, run by CSA under the Online Criminal Harms Act, will use checks and appeals to reduce false blocks and protect users, businesses and critical systems.

Singapore is also boosting cyber defences with AI tools, quantum-safe migration, and stronger international cooperation as malware and attacks rise.

SINGAPORE - A new national service will soon block Singapore users from accessing known phishing and malware sites amid a sharp rise in the number of infected computer systems here .

Called a protective domain name service (PDNS), it was announced on Oct 13 by Senior Minister K. Shanmugam as part of Singapore’s refreshed cybersecurity strategy to counter heightened cyber threats.

The shift is toward a proactive, artificial intelligence-driven national defence model as threat actors have become faster and are more sophisticated using AI.

“Singapore will seek to act earlier, act at national scale and act at the speed of the threat. This shift is an important part of Singapore’s cybersecurity strategy 2026 which we are launching today,” said Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs.

He was speaking at the opening of the 11th Singapore International Cyber Week at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Shanmugam said that Singapore’s updated cybersecurity strategy is broader than how national cyberdefence has been viewed so far.

“It will cover how we will strengthen our critical infrastructure in the wider cyberspace, build capabilities for AI and quantum, deepen our global partnerships, and invest in our cybersecurity ecosystem and workforce,” he said.

Expected to be rolled out in 2027, the new PDNS will be operated by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore’s (CSA) National Cybersecurity Command Centre, under the Online Criminal Harms Act.

The Act, which came into force in 2024 , allows the authorities to ask individuals, companies and internet service providers to remove or block access to content that they suspect is being used to commit crimes, such as illegal gambling and moneylending, drug-related offences, scams, and malicious cyber activities.

CSA said that the new service will have safeguards to “ensure the responsible exercise” of powers under the Online Criminal Harms Act.

The agency said that a “robust assessment and validation process” will be carried out before malicious websites are blocked, to reduce the risk of false positives and to ensure site blocking decisions can be accounted for.

Individuals or organisations affected by the service’s website blocking can seek recourse through the Act’s existing reconsideration and appeal processes.

Similar malicious website blocking services have been implemented in Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 2022, an inter-agency Counter Ransomware Task Force in Singapore recommended the use of PDNS as a form of “upstream defence” to prevent known malicious attackers from reaching internet users here. This is because such attackers can trick users into downloading malware from malicious sites that can steal users’ company data or lock it up until a ransom is paid.

Navigating cyberspace safely is becoming more difficult. According to CSA’s latest Singapore Cyber Landscape report published in June, the number of malware-infected computer systems detected in Singapore more than doubled to 284,300 in 2025, from 117,300 infected systems detected in 2024.

“Singapore must raise the level of cybersecurity across our entire ecosystem,” said CSA on Oct 13, adding that such upstream protection is one of the key thrusts of the country’s refreshed cybersecurity strategy to counter more frequent and advanced threats.

The other pillars of the national strategy are defending critical infrastructure, strengthening capabilities for AI and quantum technologies, and improving resilience through global partnerships.

Computer systems of critical infrastructure, or critical information infrastructure like those for power plants and telecommunications, are being increasingly targeted by hackers behind advanced cyberattacks that can stay undetected for long periods of time. These attackers are also called advanced persistent threat actors.

An attack in Singapore by one such group of hackers was revealed in July 2025. The country’s four major telcos were attacked by state-sponsored cyberespionage group UNC3886 . The attack could have disrupted telecommunications and internet services had the attackers infiltrated further.

Other new safety measures include exploring cyber insurance pilots, as well as the police setting up a new Cyber Command unit in July to target scammers and cybercriminals before they reach Singaporeans.

“The intensified threat landscape underpins the need for a command centre with enhanced national capabilities to detect cyber risks earlier and accelerate operational responses,” CSA said, referring to its National Cybersecurity Command Centre.

Announced in 2024, the centre detects and neutralises cyber threats before they reach Singapore’s shores .

Besides operating the PDNS, the centre will also allow cyberdefenders to combine threat intelligence from various sources to facilitate the coordination of cyber operations at a national level.

The centre will also enable cyber defenders of critical information infrastructure to detect malicious activities, especially those of advanced persistent threat actors, with a new proprietary threat detection systems developed by the Ministry of Defence’s Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies. The centre is working with CSA to equip selected infrastructure owners with the systems.

Separate systems will also be deployed that use AI to track ongoing incidents and help cyberdefenders to develop operational assessments and plan their next actions. These will allow the National Cybersecurity Command Centre to coordinate faster responses to cyberincidents.

Wider adoption of AI and migration to quantum-safe systems are also part of Singapore’s refreshed strategy to strengthen protection.

Attackers are using AI tools to strike faster and at greater scale, while advancements in quantum computing threaten to undermine methods used today to encrypt data.

AI/artificial intelligence

一项新服务已发布，该服务可以阻止访问已知的恶意网站，例如钓鱼网站和包含有害软件的网站。这项服务可以防止新加坡用户访问此类网站。

发布于 2026 年 10 月 13 日上午 10:25

更新于2026年10月13日上午10:25

新加坡推出了一项保护性域名服务，以阻止访问已知的恶意软件和钓鱼网站，这是其新的网络安全战略的一部分。

该服务由 CSA 根据《网络犯罪危害法》运营，将通过检查和申诉来减少错误封禁，并保护用户、企业和关键系统。

随着恶意软件和网络攻击的增加，新加坡也在利用人工智能工具、量子安全迁移和更紧密的国际合作来加强网络防御。

新加坡——随着新加坡受感染的计算机系统数量急剧上升，一项新的国家服务即将阻止新加坡用户访问已知的钓鱼网站和恶意软件网站。

这项名为“保护性域名服务”（PDNS）的服务于10月13日由新加坡高级部长尚穆根宣布推出，作为新加坡为应对日益严峻的网络威胁而更新的网络安全战略的一部分。

随着威胁行为者利用人工智能变得更快、更复杂，国防模式正在向积极主动、人工智能驱动的方向转变。

“新加坡将力求更早采取行动，在国家层面采取行动，并以与威胁速度相匹配的速度采取行动。这一转变是我们今天发布的《新加坡2026年网络安全战略》的重要组成部分，”国家安全统筹部长兼内政部长尚穆根表示。

他是在滨海湾金沙会展中心举行的第十一届新加坡国际网络周开幕式上发表讲话的。

尚穆根表示，新加坡更新后的网络安全战略比以往对国家网络防御的理解更为广泛。

“它将涵盖我们如何加强在更广泛的网络空间中的关键基础设施，构建人工智能和量子计算能力，深化我们的全球伙伴关系，以及投资于我们的网络安全生态系统和人才队伍，”他说。

预计将于 2027 年推出的全新 PDNS 将由新加坡网络安全局 (CSA) 的国家网络安全指挥中心根据《网络犯罪危害法》进行运营。

该法案于 2024 年生效，允许当局要求个人、公司和互联网服务提供商删除或阻止访问他们怀疑用于实施犯罪的内容，例如非法赌博和放贷、毒品犯罪、诈骗和恶意网络活动。

CSA表示，这项新服务将采取保障措施，以“确保负责任地行使”《网络犯罪危害法》赋予的权力。

该机构表示，在屏蔽恶意网站之前，将进行“严格的评估和验证程序”，以降低误报的风险，并确保网站屏蔽决定能够得到解释。

受该服务网站屏蔽影响的个人或组织可以通过该法案现有的复议和上诉程序寻求补救。

澳大利亚、加拿大、欧盟、英国和美国都已实施了类似的恶意网站拦截服务。

2022年，新加坡一个跨部门反勒索软件工作组建议使用PDNS作为一种“上游防御”手段，以防止已知的恶意攻击者接触到新加坡的互联网用户。这是因为此类攻击者可以诱骗用户从恶意网站下载恶意软件，这些恶意软件会窃取用户的公司数据或将其锁定，直至支付赎金。

安全访问网络空间正变得越来越困难。根据新加坡网络安全局 (CSA) 6 月发布的最新《新加坡网络安全形势报告》，新加坡检测到的恶意软件感染计算机系统数量将从 2024 年的 117,300 个增加到 2025 年的 284,300 个，翻了一番还多。

“新加坡必须提高整个生态系统的网络安全水平，”新加坡网络安全局 (CSA) 于 10 月 13 日表示，并补充说，这种上游保护是该国更新后的网络安全战略的关键重点之一，旨在应对更频繁和更高级的威胁。

国家战略的其他支柱包括保护关键基础设施、加强人工智能和量子技术能力，以及通过全球伙伴关系提高韧性。

关键基础设施（例如发电厂和电信等关键信息基础设施）的计算机系统正日益成为黑客的攻击目标，这些黑客发动的高级网络攻击能够长时间不被发现。这些攻击者也被称为高级持续性威胁（APT）行为者。

2025年7月，新加坡发生的一起黑客攻击事件被曝光。该国四大电信公司遭到国家支持的黑客组织UNC3886的攻击。如果攻击者进一步渗透，这次攻击可能会扰乱电信和互联网服务。

其他新的安全措施包括探索网络保险试点项目，以及警方在 7 月份成立新的网络指挥部，以在诈骗犯和网络犯罪分子侵害新加坡人之前将其抓获。

网络安全局表示：“日益严峻的威胁形势凸显了建立一个具备更强国家能力的指挥中心的必要性，以便更早地发现网络风险并加快行动响应。”他指的是国家网络安全指挥中心。

该中心于 2024 年宣布成立，旨在网络威胁到达新加坡之前对其进行检测和消除。

除了运营 PDNS 之外，该中心还将允许网络防御人员整合来自各种来源的威胁情报，以促进国家层面的网络行动协调。

该中心还将利用国防部战略信息通信技术中心开发的新型专有威胁检测系统，使关键信息基础设施的网络防御人员能够检测恶意活动，特别是高级持续性威胁行为者的恶意活动。该中心正与加拿大网络安全局 (CSA) 合作，为选定的基础设施所有者配备这些系统。

此外，还将部署独立的系统，利用人工智能技术追踪正在发生的事件，并帮助网络安全防御人员进行作战评估和规划下一步行动。这些系统将使国家网络安全指挥中心能够协调更快地应对网络安全事件。

更广泛地采用人工智能和向量子安全系统迁移也是新加坡加强保护的新战略的一部分。

攻击者正在利用人工智能工具以更快的速度和更大的规模发动攻击，而量子计算的进步也威胁到目前用于加密数据的方法。

人工智能