AIRRAID4 - Asia's Premier IT-Security Tournament

AIRRAID4 - Asia's Premier IT-Security Tournament Returns To Singapore On 6 March 2013.

AIRRAID4 is the fourth evolution of the AIRRAID(tm) brand of IT-security tournament design from THINKSECURE PTE LTD ("ThinkSECURE") and will be held at SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC ("SP") on 6 March 2013.

Designed by ThinkSECURE and hosted by SP for both established and new IT professionals whose core job function is IT-security, AIRRAID4 is a cutting-edge, integrated-approach IT-security tournament that will provide participants with a fully-immersive, real-world, fun and legitimate environment in which to pit their wireless/wired network and application auditing/penetration-testing skills against each other by engaging a real-world infrastructure which is specially designed to mirror an enterprise-class, multi-segmented corporate wired and wireless network complete with multiple application server farm targets.

AIRRAID4 will be held on 6 March 2013 from 0900hrs - 1800hrs (GMT+8) at the following venue:

Singapore Polytechnic
School of Digital Media and Infocomm Technology
Cyber Wargame Centre
Block T20, Level 3
500 Dover Road, Singapore 139651

Registration and participation in AIRRAID4 is FREE!

The competition is open to both IT professionals and infocomm students of all nationalities and organizations. Participants are allowed to register as an individual or as a team up with up to a maximum of four team members.

Note: as there are a limited number of places, interested teams should register as early as possible. To register, please visit http://airraid4.securitystartshere.org

After registration, further directions and instructions will be emailed to registrants. While participation is free, registrants coming from outside Singapore will have to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Registrants should not make any travel or accommodation arrangements until they have received and read the official email containing the further directions and instructions.

Inaugural ISACA DAY @ SP

On 3rd January 2013, Singapore Polytechnic Information Systems Audit and Control Association Student Group (SP-ISACA) held its first ever ISACA Day at the newly opened Cyber Wargame Centre in SP. During this event, professionals from the field of Information Security (InfoSec) were invited to share about a wide range of topics, ranging from various know-hows in their line of expertise to their personal experiences in the field. In addition to the sharing session, the event also included the prize presentation for DISM's first ever CTF (DISM CTF-X) and a workshop on Privilege Escalation, which was conducted by student trainers from SP-ISACA.

Event Emcee kicking off the main event of ISACA Day @ SP

DISM Course Manager Mr Liew Chin Chuan giving opening address

ISACA SG Director Mr Jamal Sheik giving an introductory presentation on ISACA

The event started off on a lively note, as many eager attendees gathered in the premises of the Cyber Wargame Centre in anticipation of the events to follow. To put things into context, the day started off with Mr Jamal Sheik, Director of Program (Seminar) of the ISACA Singapore Chapter giving introduction of ISACA to the attendees of the event. Mr Sheik went into great detail to explain the philosophy behind such an organisation, what they hoped to achieve, and also touched on some of the events organised by them.

In addition, he also highlighted the existence of the ISACA Student Group which is branch of ISACA which caters to its student members. Besides covering the benefits entitled to members of the ISACA Student Group, he went on to mention the key idea behind forming such a group - to form a network of students, allowing them learn from each other beyond the confines of a classroom. The contents of Mr Sheik's speech clearly resonated with the interests of a number of student attendees as quite a number of students proceeded to the membership booth and signed up as students members througout the entire course of the event.

Mr Ho Shee Yan sharing on "Success Factors on Information Systems Audit"

Mr Ho addressing to audience on the other side of the room

Explaining on more details about Information System Control Strategies

Following the speech by Mr Sheik was a sharing on the "Success Factors on Information Systems Audit" by Mr Ho Shee Yan, Head of Audit at the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority Singapore. Possessing many years of experience as a professional in the auditing scene, Mr Ho shared about the nature of his job and the demands of those who choose to undertake this profession. Additionally, he brought up some of his know-hows of the profession, covering certain dos and don'ts in the field. This proved to be valuable information to a majority of the student attendees as it was closely related to one of the modules covered in their course. For the others, it served as an enriching food for thought, especially those aspiring to become information system auditors in the future.

Mr Huynh Thien Tam starting with an introduction about himself

 

Audience sitting in two security labs of the new Cyber Wargame Centre

Mr Ho interacting with DISM students on the topic of CTF involvement

Mr Dominic Sim, consultant from KPMG Singapore, talking about his interesting experience as a pen-tester

The next sharing was conducted by Mr Huynh Thien Tam, Manager of Security Assessment Advisory at KPMG Singapore. During his segment, Mr Hyunh gave a detailed account of his days as a penetration tester and highlighted some of the many aspects of the job which he enjoys. He also brought up some of his achievements which ranged from fruitful participation in several security technology competitions to the discovery of multiple zero day vulnerabilities with his team later in his career. As he spoke about his conquests, much of the crowd was intrigued as they witnessed a story about how a simple passion of his led to the successful career he has today.

Mr Liew presenting SP home-made gift hamper to Mr Ho

Mr Liew presenting SP home-made gift hamper to Mr Huynh

Mr Liew presenting a token of appreciation to Mr Sheik

Mr Sheik presenting a plaque of recognition to SP-ISACA Student Group

Though the end of Mr Huynh's session marked the end of the sharing sessions for the day, there were still a number of activities to come. To thank all the speakers for the invaluable knowledge they imparted to the attendees, Mr Liew Chin Chuan, the course manager for DISM presented them with tokens of appreciation. Following this, it was now time to present the prizes for the DISM CTF-X Season - a CTF competition co-organised by the SP-ISACA Student Group and DISM Special Interest Group. As the names of the winners were called out, their faces brimmed with joy as the proceeded to collect their well-deserved prizes which were presented to them by none other than DMIT's Director Ms Georgina Phua. To conclude the session, Mr Sheik then presented a plaque to the SP-ISACA Student Group to thank them for all the hard work in organising this enriching event.

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Participation in DISM CTF S1 to year 1 student Cheong Ren Hann

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Participation in DISM CTF S1 to year 2 student Suhaimi

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Participation in DISM CTF S1 to year 3 student Lee Xin En

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Merit to DISM CTF S1 2nd Runner-up team Digimon

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Merit to DISM CTF S1 1st Runner-up team and Top Team in July Team HBE

DMIT Director Ms Georgina Phua presenting Certificate of Merit to DISM CTF S1 Grand Champion team and Top Team in June ╚ ICITIR ┘

Ms Georgina Phua, Director of School of DMIT giving an inspiring closing speech to all participants in ISACA Day @ SP

Mr Liew, Mr Ho and Ms Phua having conversation after the event proper

Guest speakers and lecturers chatting pleasantly during the light refreshment session

New ISACA Student Member and lucky draw winner Mustaqiim receiving prize from DISM lecturer Mr Samson Yeow

New ISACA Student Member, lucky draw grand winner as well as event photographer Dixon Soo with Mr Yeow

After a session of refreshments and a lucky draw session, it was time for the second segment of the day – the privilege escalation workshop. Although there were not a very large crowd who stayed behind for this workshop, those that remained were extremely eager to pick up anything they could gain from the session, which was organized and conducted by SP-ISACA student instructors. Through the mentorship of the two knowledgeable trainers, attendees were guided through the privilege challenges from Nebula, a virtual machine which can be found at expoilt-exercises.com. The small class size played to our advantage as the session was carried out very smoothly, thus it was both a fun and enriching experience for all the attendees of the workshop.

A closed session workshop on exploits and privilege escalation

One of the SP-ISACA Student Instructor Jeremy introducing on the contents of the workshop

The engrossed participants concentrating fully on the exercises

Student Instructor Jeremy providing a one-to-one guidance

All in all, ISACA Day 2013 was of utmost success. It could be seen that many of the students thoroughly enjoyed the session and had a valuable learning experience. Hopefully, such an event could be carried out for the many years to come.

Pictures captured by Dixon Soo, dedicated photographer for ISACA Day @ SP

Coverage adapted based on write-up by Nikolas Tay, ISACA student member

SP-ISACA Gaining Official Recognition by International Headquarter

As everyone celebrates the new year of 2013, SP-ISACA has too got a great start as the group has been recognized since January as a full fledged ISACA Student Group (ISG) by the International Headquarter of Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA HQ), thanks to the strong support from ISACA Singapore Chapter and Academic Advocates in Singapore Polytechnic.

SP-ISACA Officially Recognized by International Headquarter

The SP-ISACA group currently has nearly twenty registered students members. In time to come it is firmly believed that the group will continue to grow and exert its positive impact on fellow students from Diploma in Infocomm Security management in Singapore Polytechnic, through organizing various events and activities for instance, while working towards the long term target, that is

Aiming to expand recognition of the IT Audit and Assurance, Security and IT governance disciplines/focus areas by educating students about standards, practices and certifications.

Congratulations to SP-ISACA office and all student members!

Link to Recognized ISACA Student Groups: 
http://www.isaca.org/Membership/Student-Membership/Student-Groups/Pages/Recognized-ISACA-Student-Groups.aspx

Launch of Singapore Polytechnic Cyber Wargame Centre - Video Clip

This is the video clip of the launch of Singapore Polytechnic Cyber Wargame Centre on 3 Jan 2013.

Produced by:
Diploma in Visual Effects & Motion graphics
School of Digital Media & Infocmm Technology

New Cyber Wargame Centre at DMIT

Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) students now enjoy an enhanced learning environment to train in dealing with real-world security scenarios, thanks to the setting up of the new Cyber Wargame Centre. It also offers a new learning approach.
 

SP Principal and CEO Mr Tan Choon Shian (left) greeting Mr Noel Hon, Chairman of e-Cop Group, a partner in the Cyber Wargame Centre initiative.

The learning space at the School of Digital Media & Infocomm Technology, which was officially launched on 3 January, has the distinction of being the first such facility in a local tertiary education institution.

“Technology has become an integral part of our lives, and our youths are growing up in an information-rich, technology-driven world. This means that we have to adapt our traditional teaching methods to suit this new generation, or find new approaches in delivering our courses so that our students will find learning fun, relevant and engaging,” said SP Principal and CEO Mr Tan Choon Shian in his speech. “Hence, we created this Cyber Wargame Centre to train students from the DISM course, using Cyber Wargame scenarios.”

A hallmark of the centre is its Cyber Wargaming learning approach. In a departure from the previous approach to teaching security in a computer laboratory where students learn offensive, defensive and investigative skills in silos, the centre’s new scenario-based approach allows DISM students to find vulnerabilities of systems from an attacker’s perspective, and detect intrusions from the cyber defender’s perspective.

“We are an advocate of ‘learning-by-doing’ and we aim to create a realistic environment for SP students to acquire the operational and tactical engagement skills in responding to cyber threats,” said Mr Liew Chin Chuan, course manager of the Infocomm Security Management programme. “The new cyber wargame learning approach will also help students develop key soft skills of security professionals in the industry. These include effective teamwork, resourcefulness and ability to work under pressure.”

The centre developed in collaboration with key technology partners including e-Cop and ST Electronics.

The new centre comprises four learning spaces: Cyber Range; Cyberwatch Competency Centre; Malware Analysis Lab; and Forensics Investigation Lab, to train cyber defenders of tomorrow.

 (This is part of our ‘Campus Learning and Social Spaces’ series where we bring you the latest developments in the schools and departments regarding new centres, laboratories, staff facilities and such.)

Published by Dept of Corporate Communications, Singapore Polytechnic

Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) Certification

At SP, we offer this programme to all our DISM students. You have a chance to obtain a professional certification in computer/digital forensics while studying for your Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) diploma.

Remember, we are the "one and only polytechnic" in Singapore to work with EC-Council under the Academia Partner Programme. Students only need to pay the discounted price (pay only about 10% of the commercial course fee) for the on-line study materials that comes with a complimentary examination voucher.

In addition, you also need to consider addtional training such as mobile/handheld/smart devices forensics and malware reverse engineering as these skills are usually required for computer-related forensics investigation. We offer these modules in our DISM curriculum.

Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI)
Computer crime in today’s cyber world is on the rise. Computer Investigation techniques are being used by police, government and corporate entities globally and many of them turn to EC-Council for our Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator CHFI Training and Certification Program. Computer Security and Computer investigations are changing terms. More tools are invented daily for conducting Computer Investigations, be it computer crime, digital forensics, computer investigations, or even standard computer data recovery, The tools and techniques covered in EC-Council’s CHFI program will prepare the student to conduct computer investigations using groundbreaking digital forensics technologies.

Computer Investigation

Computer hacking forensic investigation is the process of detecting hacking attacks and properly extracting evidence to report the crime and conduct audits to prevent future attacks.

Computer forensics is simply the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques in the interests of determining potential legal evidence. Evidence might be sought in a wide range of computer crime or misuse, including but not limited to theft of trade secrets, theft of or destruction of intellectual property, and fraud. CHFI investigators can draw on an array of methods for discovering data that resides in a computer system, or recovering deleted, encrypted, or damaged file information known as computer data recovery.

Electronic evidence is critical in the following situations
• Disloyal employees
• Computer break-ins
• Possession of pornography
• Breach of contract
• Industrial espionage
• E-mail Fraud
• Bankruptcy
• Disputed dismissals
• Web page defacements

• Theft of company documents

DISM Course Counselling

Do you have a burning question about Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) S54, poly education, further education or career choices open to you after O levels? Visit our JAE Centre (SP Convention Centre) and talk to our friendly lecturers and student counsellors who will be most delighted to advise you.



What are the questions you should be asking:
- Cut-off point of the course (NS: Low COP means better students in the cohort)
- Qualification and experience of lecturers (NS: IT security-related certifications that they hold)
- Advanced standing with universities (NS: Not school level but course level)
- Cohort success rate (NS: Complete the course within the stipulated 3 year duration).
- Progression rate to universities (NS: How many students go to universities)
- IT security-related professional certifications for students (NS: Should be IT security-related and not other general networking certifications)
- Scholarships available to course students (NS: Not school level but course level)
- Scholars in the course (NS: Not poly/school level but course level), such as the Integrated Infocomm Scholarships and National Infocomm Scholarships.

Giving you one example, in year 2010, SP was awarded 16 Integrated Infocomm Scholarships representing 50% of total number of scholarships awarded by iDA to all 5 polytechnics' students. Among the 16 scholarships, 6 of the recipients were DISM students. This number is at course level and not school/poly level.

If you are a high-achiever, consider a course with a lower cut-off point. In year 2012, DISM has a cut-off point of 14. With a lower cut-off point, the learning experience will be more stimulating and exciting because you know the the course will offer you the best potential, scope and knowledge. It also stretches you and your talent which eventually will offer you many open doors to move on to the next milestone.

So don't hesitate, choose Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) S54 as your FIRST CHOICE now.

If you have further questions, you can talk to our friendly lecturers and student counsellors during the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) at SP Convention Centre (SPCC).

Information/Infocomm Security Course (COP 2012)

Below is a table showing the Cut-Off-Point (COP) for the information/infocomm security course among the polytechnics.

INFORMATION & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
Course Name	Poly	Code	COP 2012
Cyber & Digital Security	TP	T15	17
Infocomm Security Management	SP	S54	14
Information Security	NYP	C54	19

Source: http://www.polytechnic.edu.sg/polyguide/JAE.html

Why Choose DISM (S54) course?

Being a Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) student gives you the competitive edge for a boost in both your future studies and career. We give you :

• Learning Throught Wargaming
• Head start in NUS even before you graduate
• Get yourself recognised by the industry (Professional Security Certifications)
• Comprehensive training in Infocomm security management
• Exciting range of activities beyond the curriculum
• Industry and Security Experience for Final Year Projects and Internship
• Good Career Prospects

Learning Throught Wargaming

Test your skills against your peers in our newly launched Cyber Wargame Centre - the state-of-the-art facility. Build up your defences, launch offensive attacks on your targets, and delve into the intriguing world of forensics investigation, all in the format of cyber wargame scenarios.

Head start in NUS even before you graduate

Students who meet NUS’ programme criteria can choose join the NUS-Poly Preparatory Programme. This programme gives you the special opportunity to take one NUS module each in your second and third year of study here in SP. Imagine the chance to be immersed in University classes and interact with undergraduates well before your peers! Upon successfully completion of the programme, you will be eligible to enroll into NUS’ Bachelor of Computing degree programme through special admission!!
 

Get yourself recognised by the industry (Professional Security Certifications)

You will have opportunities to embark on external industry recognised IT Security certification programmes like:

• CompTIA Security+
• EC Council Certified Ethical Hacking
• EC Council Certified Hacking Forensics Investigation
• EC Council Certified Security Analyst
• ThinkSECURE Organizational Systems Security Analyst
• ThinkSECURE Organizational Systems Wireless Auditor
• Oracle Certified Professional, Java Programmer
• Red Hat Certified Engineer
• And more...

Additionally, DISM students who have performed exceptionally well in their first year of study are offered the opportunity to embark on the Diploma-Plus Programme to pursue additional certifications in the subsequent years.

Comprehensive training in Infocomm security management

The DISM curriculum offers a comprehensive coverage of Infocomm security management. You will acquire skills and knowledge to manage security threats with modules such as Network Security, Ethical Hacking, Applied Cryptography, Computer Forensics and Computer Law & Investigation. You will also learn the techniques used by hackers to penetrate computer systems and also those used by security professionals to defend against such attacks.

Exciting range of activities beyond the curriculum

We will give you a unique and rewarding DISM course experience by providing numerous opportunities for you to be exposed to real-world situations through experiential learning, such as the planning and organising of IT Security Awareness Day and School Cybersafety talks to promote greater awareness of IT security among the community, embarking on field trips to relevant organisations as well as overseas trips and security competitions to gain a first-hand experience and learning through the exchange of ideas and knowledge.

Industry and Security Experience for Final Year Projects and Internship

In your final year, you have the opportunity to consolidate the knowledge and polish the skills you acquired in DISM by working on your Final-Year Project (FYP) and undergoing a 12-week Internship Programme with reputable organizations.

Good Career Prospects

You can look forward to respectable and exciting careers such as IT Security Consultants, Forensics Investigators/Specialists, Security or System Administrators and IT Auditors. You will be in demand in various industries like IT security solution providers, auditing and consultancy firms, and also any organisation that requires IT security services.

Further Education

You will have ample opportunities to further your studies both locally and overseas with generous advanced standings. Besides the local universities, you can also embark on various undergraduate courses in Infocomm Security, Digital Systems Security, Computer Forensics and Security Management with reputable foreign universities in Australia, UK and the United States.

Best IT SECURITY diploma course (S54)

At SP, we provide you with the best IT SECURITY diploma course (S54). See the reasons below:

1) State-of-the-art learning spaces (Cyber Wargame Centre).
2) Experienced, skilled and caring lecturers.
3) Current and relevant curriculum with holistic education.
4) Unleashed your potentials through wargaming.
5) Ready for work, life and world.
6) Improve your employability and market value.
7) Two qualifications await you: both academic and professional certifications.
8) Yes, DISM (S54) is the right choice for you. The fast track to IT security career/education.

Most importantly, we have high cohort success rate for students who choose to proceed to study with local/overseas universities. If you need more information, come to SP Convention Centre (SPCC) and speak to our DISM course counsellers.

See you then!

What so SPecial about DISM (S54)

Frequuently, we are being asked this question, "What is so special about DISM (S54)"?

Below are some answers to the question:

1) First to establish Cyber Wargame Centre in Institutes of Higher Learning.
- the centre was launched recently on the 3 Jan 2013.

2) First polytechnic in Singapore to use the training curriculum from Paraben Inc. in the area of mobile/handheld device forensics.

3) First to sign Memorandum-of-Understanding (MOU) with security vendor, e-Cop
- to establish a Cyberwatch Competency Centre which leverages e-Cop solutions built on Microsoft platforms - the first of its kind in this region.

4) First to sign Memorandum-of-Cooperation (MOC) with EC-Council under Academia Programme
- one and only polytechnic to offer the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) course.
- one and only polytechnic to offer the Computer Hacking Forensic Investigor (CHFI) course.
- one and only polytechnic to offer the EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) course.

5) First to sign Memorandum-of-Cooperation (MOC) with ThinkSECURE
- one and only polytechnic to offer the Organizational Systems Security Analyst (OSSA) course.
- one and only polytechnic to offer the Organizational Systems Wireless Auditor (OSWA) course.

6) First to partner with ThinkSECURE to organize a wireless hacking tourament in Singapore
- one and only polytechnic to work with ThinkSECURE to co-organize an event at the regional level which attracted many teams from the neighbouring countries.

7) First to have security diploma students to be accepted into the NUS Prep Programme

8) First to setup VMWare Infrastructure in the DMIT Infocomm Security Lab
- we are the first educational institution in Singapore to implement VMware Lab Manager into our IT Security Labs to provide greater automation and control.

9) First to sign Memorandum-of-Cooperation (MOC) with D-Link International
- we are the first educational institution to work with D-Link to jointly set up a laboratory which will be used for research and development in the enterprise network security space.

10) First polytechnic to setup the honeeebox sensor (http://www.honeynet.org/)
- we are the first polytechnic to setup the honeebox sensor under the Singapore Honeynet Chapter.

11) First to sign Memorandum-of-Cooperation (MOC) with Symantec
- we are the first educational institution to work with Symantec to setup SP-Symantec Infocomm Security Lab in Nov 2007.

12) High number of Integrated Infocomm Scholars - IIS

13) High number of National Infocomm Scholars - NIS

...... and many more.......

Live Interview on Capital 95.8FM 城市频道

Did you manage to catch the interview with our Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) lecturer and students on Capital Radio 95.8FM (城市频道) this morning? The trio shared information on DISM and the newly launched Cyber Wargame Centre in SP, and also discussed ethical hacking and future plans.

Here’s a photo of them at the studio (from left to right):

城市频道王德明， 学生王冠伟， 讲师姚顺强， 学生赖齐伟，和城市频道高逸芯。

958 Senior Producer Presenter Ong Teck Ming, student Ong Guan Wei, DISM lecturer Samson Yeow, student Lai Qi Wei and 958 Senior Producer Presenter Ko Ee Sim.

The HACK - spbuzz.sp.edu.sg

By Izyan Liana, Diploma in Media and Communication

Cyberwarfare, a bloodless but nonetheless dangerous war, is one that involves hacking to retrieve protected private information that can be wrongfully used.

At Singapore Polytechnic (SP), students from the Diploma in Infocomm Security Management (DISM) are trained to be work-ready cyber soldiers in the infocomm security industry through the newly built Cyber Wargame Centre (CWG).

Paraben's Mobile Field Kit, Project-A-Phone and the Stronghold Box.

For more details, please visit URL: http://spbuzz.sp.edu.sg/blog/2013/01/09/the-hack/

'O' Level results out on Jan 10 2013

The results of the 2012 'O' Level examinations will be released on Jan 10 and the posting results will be out by Jan 31 2013.

Singapore Polytechnic Open House 2013 (With SP, It's So Possible)

Jan 5 2013 - Jan 08, 2013
Singapore Polytechnic
500 Dover Road
Singapore 139651
6775 1133

Time: 10am to 6pm
Price: Free admission

http://aspirations.sg

Come visit our DISM booth at T20 Level 3, you will receive a specially designed button with DISM Logo while stocks last.