Singapore's CSA hosted CIDeX 2025 to enhance cyber defense for IT, OT networks

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), in collaboration with the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), hosted the Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise (CIDeX) that aims to strengthen the capabilities of 11 critical sectors in detecting and responding to cyber threats targeting IT and OT (operational technology) networks that control critical information infrastructure (CII).

CIDeX 2025 is supported by iTrust at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the National Cybersecurity Research & Development Laboratory. As part of the National Cyber Exercise Programme led by the CSA, CIDeX plays a critical role in enhancing cybersecurity capabilities. In conjunction with the exercise, the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) and SUTD also launched the Cyber5G testbed, further advancing Singapore’s cybersecurity infrastructure.

With over 250 participants from the DIS, CSA and 33 other organisations and for the first time, participation from all 11 CII sectors, the CIDeX 2025 exercise involved participants from the Blue Teams, comprising representatives from participating organisations, defended their respective digital infrastructure against live simulated cyber-attacks launched by a composite exercise planning and control team made up of CSA, DIS, Defence Science and Technology Agency, GovTech, IMDA and LTA personnel. The exercise scenarios involved attacks on IT networks and testbeds that aim to disrupt operations, such as compromising a 5G network, and disrupting power supply and rail operations.

CIDeX 2025 exercise scenarios were developed with the use of an AI (artificial intelligence) tool that provided suggested attack pathways to engineer potential attack scenarios and intrusion vectors. These scenarios were further built on and refined by the planning and control team to shape realistic simulations that mimic attacks by malicious threat actors.

Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s minister for defence and Josephine Teo, minister for digital development and information visited the exercise site, where they were briefed on CIDeX 2025’s objectives and witnessed demonstrations of cybersecurity tools developed by the Singapore Armed Forces’ Cyber Defence Test and Evaluation Centre. Supported by iTrust SUTD and the National Cybersecurity Research & Development Laboratory, CIDeX is part of the National Cyber Exercise Programme, designed to enhance inter-agency collaboration in the ongoing defense against evolving cyber threats.

“As national cyber defenders, we are also embracing the use of AI to enhance cyber defence, in keeping pace with global cyber threats,” Clarence Cai, Commander Defence Cyber Command/Defence Cyber Chief Colonel, said in a media statement last week. “In collaboration with our cyber partners, the SAF is developing cyber-AI experimentation and operationalisation capabilities to apply transformative innovations to cyber defence. These capabilities elevate our operations and deploy the expertise of our skilled cyber talent and national servicemen where it matters the most.”

“Cyber threats to Singapore are real, complex, and rapidly evolving,” Edward Chen, deputy chief executive for National Cyber Resilience at the CSA, said. “Large-scale exercises like CIDeX give our defenders the realistic training to hone their craft and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyber threat actors. We are appreciative of this strong partnership with the SAF to build Singapore’s collective cyber resilience.”

Private sector partners including Singtel, and technology companies such as AWS, Check Point Software Technologies, Dragos , Fortinet , Google Cloud and Splunk, a Cisco company, were closely involved in the exercise preparations. They provided input on cyber-attack scenarios, enhancing simulated attacks’ realism for higher learning value for the participants, and contributed training expertise to the six-day hands-on training programme prior to the exercise, to develop and hone participants’ cyber defence competencies.

CIDeX 2025 provided participants with the opportunity to sharpen their instincts and technical competencies and expertise and perspectives across organisations.

The Cyber5G testbed, built with telco-grade components, allows academia and operational partners to conduct threat modeling and cyber training for the telecommunications sector. The testbed enables research on real-world attack vectors that threaten national infrastructure for development of robust defensive and mitigation strategies.

Last month, the ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) held the BlueOLEx 2025 event in Cyprus, hosted by the Office of the Commissioner of Communications and the ICT Academy, under the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Guided by the revised Cyber Blueprint released earlier this year and inspired by a real-life scenario, this edition of BlueOLEx assessed the effectiveness of EU executive-level cooperation in responding to large-scale cybersecurity incidents and crises.