Abstract

Digital threats and misinformation are evolving rapidly. Building and maintaining trust in Singapore’s digital landscape has become more critical than ever. Two speakers from RSIS will explore the challenges of cybersecurity in the age of artificial intelligence and the growing threat of DRUMS — Distortion, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation, and Smears. This learning journey aims to foster a deeper understanding of how Singapore can strengthen its digital defences and uphold information integrity in an increasingly complex world.

About the Speakers

Benjamin Ang is Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), oversees Future Issues in Technology (FIT), as well as Head of Digital Impact Research (DIR) at RSIS.

He leads the CENS policy research team that writes, publishes, and lectures internationally on national security issues related to cyber, international cyber norms, disinformation, cybercrime, foreign interference, hybrid threats, digital security, social cohesion, polarization, and social resilience. At FIT, he leads the team exploring policy issues in artificial intelligence, space, quantum technology, smart cities, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies. Through DIR, he networks with the wide array of RSIS experts who study the impact of digital technology into their respective security domains.

He has given expert testimony at the United Nations Open Ended Working Group on Cyber, testified before Singapore’s Parliamentary Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, and regularly lectures at the UN-Singapore Cyber Fellowship.

Prior to this, he had a multi-faceted career that included time as a litigation lawyer arguing commercial cases, IT Director and General Manager of a major Singapore law firm, corporate lawyer specialising in technology law and intellectual property issues, in house legal counsel in an international software company, Director-Asia in a regional technology consulting firm, in-house legal counsel in a transmedia company, and senior law lecturer at a local Polytechnic, specialising in data privacy, digital forensics, and computer misuse and cybersecurity.

Benjamin graduated from Law School at the National University of Singapore and has an MBA and MS-MIS (Masters of Science in Management Information Systems) from Boston University.

He also serves as Co-Chief Data Officer of AI.Singapore, the national programme that builds national capabilities in AI, and volunteers on the Executive Committee of the Internet Society Singapore Chapter. He is qualified as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore and was a Certified Novell Network Administrator back in the day.

Gulizar Haciyakupoglu is a Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her research concerns influence operations, and online harms and activism. She is the co-editor of the volume titled Gender and Security in Digital Space: Navigating Access, Harassment, and Disinformation. Her publications appeared in various academic and policy outlets, including the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication and Defence Strategic Communications. She holds a PhD from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Communications and New Media Department (CNM), and an MA in Political Communication from the University of Sheffield. She received her bachelor’s degree in Global and International Affairs from the Dual-Diploma Programme of the State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton, and Bogazici University, Turkey.