SINGAPORE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sheena Jacob, Sherman Poon and Andre Choo, CMS
CMS 7 Straits View Marina One East Tower #19-01 Singapore 018936 Tel: +65 6720 8278 Fax: +65 6720 8279 Web: www.cms.law/en/sgp
Introduction The rapid acceleration of AI adoption and deployment has elevated the cybersecurity risk to businesses to an all-time high. Cybersecurity risk is a core pillar of national security and the digital infrastructure. In today’s world, cybersecurity risks are no longer con - fined to data breaches or isolated system outages; they increasingly implicate supply chains, critical digi - tal infrastructure, AI systems, and cross-border opera - tions. As cyberthreats become more sophisticated, persistent, and geopolitically motivated, governments worldwide are strengthening regulatory frameworks and enforcement mechanisms to safeguard digital ecosystems. Businesses, particularly those operating in sensitive and critical sectors, also need to address this increasing risk to their business and meet the growing compliance requirements being imposed on them through new laws and regulations. For Singapore, cybersecurity remains a strategic imperative (see here and here ). As a global financial hub, data centre nexus, and emerging AI powerhouse, Singapore faces heightened exposure to cyber-risks. In 2025, it continued to refine its regulatory frame - work to address evolving threats, putting increasing pressure on organisations operating in Singapore to demonstrate cyber-resilience, operational continuity, and regulatory compliance. Cybersecurity Threats and Trends AI emerges as a major threat The accelerated adoption and deployment of AI have become a force multiplier for cyber-attackers. Threat actors use AI to automate vulnerability discovery, generate realistic phishing content, create convincing audio and video using deepfakes, and optimise attack timing. These capabilities significantly reduce the cost and complexity of sophisticated attacks.
A study commissioned by Fortinet found that almost 56% of organisations in Singapore experienced AI- driven cyberthreats over the past year. Among these, 52% observed a twofold rise in the number of threats, while 42% saw a threefold increase (see here ). These attacks are more difficult to detect and frequently take advantage of gaps in visibility, governance, and inter - nal procedures. The rise of AI-driven impersonation attacks poses par - ticular risks for senior management, finance functions, and trusted intermediaries. Traditional security aware - ness training is increasingly insufficient to address these threats, necessitating advanced detection tools and behavioural safeguards. Against this backdrop, the Monetary Authority of Sin - gapore issued two information papers addressing the cyber-risks for financial institutions arising from gen - erative AI (GenAI) and deepfakes (see here and here ). The papers highlight various key points. Threat actors are increasingly leveraging GenAI to create convincing phishing messages, forged docu - ments, and synthetic identities through manipulated media, which can undermine staff-led customer due diligence and enhanced checks during onboarding and reviews. GenAI lowers the barrier for malware creation, including polymorphic malware that chang - es form to evade traditional detection, compounding cyber-intrusion risks alongside social engineering. Deployments of GenAI introduce risks of data leak - age and model manipulation through employee mis - use, vulnerable add-ons, software bugs, supply chain exposures, prompt injection, and jailbreak techniques. Further, deepfakes enable impersonation, document falsification, and fraudulent transactions, and have
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