Group-IB becomes the first cybersecurity company to join JTC’s Punggol Digital District

Group-IB, one of the leading providers of solutions dedicated to detecting and preventing cyberattacks, identifying online fraud, investigation of high-tech crimes and intellectual property protection, is honored to announce it has joined JTC’s Punggol Digital District, Singapore’s smart district that is home to top international players in cybersecurity, blockchain, robotics and smart living solutions. Masterplanned and developed by JTC, a government agency under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Punggol Digital District will support the digital economy growth in Singapore and will exemplify the achievements of the city-state’s Smart Nation Initiative. At the inaugural PDD: Connecting Smartness event held earlier today, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Gan Kim Yong announced Group-IB’s move into the smart district, along with three other international heavyweights in the digital sectors.

It’s a great honor for me and my company to be part of JTC’s Punggol Digital District. I’m sure that today marks a milestone for Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region in general as we’re inaugurating a strategic project that will be leading Singapore in the implementation of its Smart Nation Initiative and will stand at the forefront of the region’s digital transformation. I feel a special responsibility for this initiative since my company, Group-IB, is the first cybersecurity company to join this smart district and we expect a great journey ahead.

Ilya Sachkov
Ilya Sachkov

CEO and founder at Group-IB

As the first cybersecurity firm to join the initiative, Group-IB will bring to Punggol Digital District the expertise that the company accumulated over nearly two decades of sophisticated cybercrime investigations and protection of over 450 mid-size and large enterprises in financial, energy, telecom and other sectors to contribute to Punggol Digital District’s further development. Group-IB also aspires to become an all-inclusive cybersecurity provider to the community, bringing, among others, its system intended for creating organization-tailored threat landscape, analyzing and attributing cyberattacks and proactive threat hunting, Threat Intelligence, and solution for adversary-centric detection of targeted attacks and unknown threats for IT and OT environments, Managed Extended Detection and Response, to it.

Based on the existing stack of internationally recognized threat hunting technologies, Group-IB will collaborate with the Singapore Institute of Technology to develop and operate a cybersecurity testing facility in the smart district — PDD Cyberpolygon Sandzone. The cyberpolygon is a tool for emulating network infrastructures of any configuration, topology or scale for both theoretical research and practical trials. PDD Cyberpolygon Sandzone provides analysts with a tool to combine a random array of network segments into one to simulate the infrastructure of a specific organization, like an insurance company, a bank, a mobile operator or an enterprise with OT network, a power plant for instance.

It is planned that the platform developed and operated by Group-IB’s leading DFIR, threat intelligence and attribution experts will also offer a platform for large-scale CTF events and Hackathons with ethical hacking and networking events where cybersecurity analysts can engage with students and cybersecurity association representatives to share knowledge and expertise on the prevention of high-tech crimes.

Group-IB also plans to work with other players in Punggol Digital District, like the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore , the Government Technology Agency, and cybersecurity associations to turn the district into the space of advanced cybersecurity awareness and form risk-aware culture. Group-IB hopes to empower organizations and individuals by holding educational events during which cybersecurity practitioners can share their expertise and knowledge both with each other and a wider audience.

Together with the Singapore Institute of Technology, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, and Singapore cybersecurity community Division Zero, an inaugural Punggol Digital District bug bounty programme was organised. Supervised by Group-IB Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-GIB) analysts, the programme had participants identify „bugs„ that could let them take control over smart lighting and building management systems hosted on an isolated network managed by the Singapore Institute of Technology. The two winners of the contest were also offered an opportunity to intern at Group-IB as a reward.

Group-IB believes that such programmes will give students opportunities to apply knowledge in the real-world context through access to Group-IB’s solutions and monitoring systems. This is a key focus area for Group-IB in the region’s presence.

Group-IB’s entry to Punggol Digital District is a testament to their confidence in Singapore as a digital innovation hub. Not only will Group-IB strengthen the quality of cybersecurity solutions, their presence will also nurture the next generation of cybercrime fighters in Singapore. We look forward to more collaborative partnerships amongst the players in the district to accelerate digital innovation.

Alvin Tan - Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Industry Cluster Group, JTC
Alvin Tan

Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Industry Cluster Group, JTC

It has been a long journey since 2014, when I was around to witness the early inauguration of the Singapore Smart Nation initiative by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and its evolution from a government portal to an entire ecosystem we are forging together with Punggol Digital District today.

Shafique Dawood
Shafique Dawood

Group-IB Managing Director in APAC

When Punggol Digital District opens in 2024, Group-IB will move its Global HQ into the district to enjoy greater proximity to PDD residents and be at the heart of the district’s smart ecosystem.

Preview image by JTC

About Group-IB

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Singapore, Group-IB is a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime. Combating cybercrime is in the company’s DNA, shaping its technological capabilities to defend businesses, citizens, and support law enforcement operations.

Group-IB’s Digital Crime Resistance Centers (DCRCs) are located in the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia, and Asia-Pacific to help critically analyze and promptly mitigate regional and country-specific threats. These mission-critical units help Group-IB strengthen its contribution to global cybercrime prevention and continually expand its threat-hunting capabilities.

Group-IB’s decentralized and autonomous operational structure helps it offer tailored, comprehensive support services with a high level of expertise. We map and mitigate adversaries’ tactics in each region, delivering customized cybersecurity solutions tailored to risk profiles and requirements of various industries, including retail, healthcare, gambling, financial services, manufacturing, crypto, and more.

The company’s global security leaders work in synergy with some of the industry’s most advanced technologies to offer detection and response capabilities that eliminate cyber disruptions agilely.

Group-IB’s Unified Risk Platform (URP) underpins its conviction to build a secure and trusted cyber environment by utilizing intelligence-driven technology and agile expertise that completely detects and defends against all nuances of digital crime. The platform proactively protects organizations’ critical infrastructure from sophisticated attacks while continuously analyzing potentially dangerous behavior all over their network.

The comprehensive suite includes the world’s most trusted Threat Intelligence, The most complete Fraud Protection, AI-powered Digital Risk Protection, Multi-layered protection with Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR), All-infrastructure Business Email Protection, and External Attack Surface Management.

Furthermore, Group-IB’s full-cycle incident response and investigation capabilities have consistently elevated industry standards. This includes the 77,000+ hours of cybersecurity incident response completed by our sector-leading DFIR Laboratory, more than 1,400 successful investigations completed by the High-Tech Crime Investigations Department, and round-the-clock efforts of CERT-GIB.

Time and again, its solutions and services have been revered by leading advisory and analyst agencies such as Aite Novarica, Gartner®, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, KuppingerCole Analysts AG, and more.

Being an active partner in global investigations, Group-IB collaborates with international law enforcement organizations such as INTERPOL, EUROPOL and AFRIPOL to create a safer cyberspace. Group-IB is also a member of the Europol European Cybercrime Centre’s (EC3) Advisory Group on Internet Security, which was created to foster closer cooperation between Europol and its leading non-law enforcement partners.