Singapore’s leadership on cybersecurity in ASEAN: intermediate results and future prospects

• Gorian E.V - Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. Vladivostok. Russia

There is no any universal legal mechanism for cyberprotection in international law. The difference in approaches to the protection of CII, as well as different levels of states’ information and technological development are the reasons of it. But the most developed states are taking the initiative of providing the regional cooperation in the feld of cybersecurity by offering models which proved their validity at the national level. Usually the initiators are the most socially and economically developed states of the region. Singapore is such an indisputable leader in ASEAN. The subject of the study are the main regulatory acts in the sphere of cybersecurity in Singapore, regional and international initiatives of this state, as well as a numerous of researches on the topic. In order to obtain the most reliable scientifc results, a number of general scientifc (system-structural,formallogical and hermeneutic methods) and special legal methods of cognition (comparative legal and formal-legal methods) will be used. The use of these methods is complex.Singapore’s national legal cybersecurity mechanism has the longest history of development among other ASEAN member states. This can be explained by pace of socio-economic development of the state and by its actual status as a regional and international trade and economic center. Singapore implements the public-private partnership model for cybersecurity, where the state is assigned the role of politically-directing entity (for example, in the defnition of CII sectors), the opinions of stakeholders from the private sector play a
decisive role in determining the content of the regulatory mechanism for cybersecurity. Stakeholders are also included in the institutional mechanism for ensuring cybersecurity. The legislator managed to fnd a balance in securing public interests and protecting civil rights and freedoms, which is very important in the conditions of sustaining the investment attractiveness of the state. The emphasizing of regional and international cooperation as one of the four pillars of the cybersecurity strategy and the launch of a number of successful projects in this sphere makes Singapore a leader not only in ASEAN, but also in the international arena. The retention of the current status quo, and in the future - the further development of this aspect of Singapore’s foreign policy will help to gain the leading position in the law-making process of a universal international legal mechanism for cyberprotection.

Keywords: cybersecurity, ASEAN, Singapore, critical information infrastructure, international mechanism.