​Invisible Attacks at LKCMedicine Clinical Sciences Building

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A cybersecurity awareness joint exhibition titled "Invisible Attacks" by Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and NTU Centre for IT Services officially opened today at LKCMedicine's Clinical Sciences Building on the Novena campus in front of an audience of 50 faculty and staff. LKCMedicine Dean and President's Chair in Medicine Professor James Best and NTU Chief Information Officer Mr Alvin Ong were on hand to launch this inaugural collaboration.

In his opening remarks, Mr Ong said that this exhibition is timely as cybersecurity is one of the top three risk concerns of major companies. "We need to improve the capability of our people, or what I would call 'human firewalls' to deter cyberattacks," he said, offering three simple tips with the acronym 'TPE' to do so.

"Trust – be less trusting in cyberspace. Passwords – use strong passwords, do not reuse previous ones and do not give them out. Education – keep updated and vigilant on cyber scams, fake websites and phishing emails," he continued, commending LKCMedicine on having one of the best scores within NTU on mock phishing exercises and being a role model for the rest.

Prof Best followed with his speech, "We are in the era of big data, whether it is healthcare or population health data, or the data from our research experiments. That data is extremely valuable. We are vulnerable to cyberattacks, from people who want to access that data, or as we have heard, potentially hold us to ransom to steal that data."

The Dean said that when defences are breached, it can be extremely difficult to repair the damage, and the damage can be extensive. Quoting former US President Thomas Jefferson, Prof Best said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. It depends on everyone because we can't have any weak links in the chain."

The exhibition was then declared open when Prof Best and Mr Ong successfully shot down virus targets with Nerf guns while donning protective glasses.

The exhibition is divided into two parts: 'Attacks' and 'Defence'. Manager of E-Learning, IT Systems & Services Mr Vincent Lee led the VIP tour through 'Attacks' while Assistant Director, Learning Technologies and Digital Media Mr Patrick Chan covered the 'Defence' half of the exhibition.

"Invisible Attacks: a Cybersecurity Awareness Exhibition" is at Level 1 Foyer, Clinical Sciences Building, Novena campus until 13 September. It plans to embark on a short tour to partner institutions, such as hospitals, schools and libraries. An e-book of the exhibition is also in the works.

Update: You can browse the e-book of the exhibition here.