Governmentware Conference & Exhibition '07

The Governmentware Conference 2007 (Govware2007) was held between 25-27 September 2007 at the Suntec Convention Centre. Organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), this 3-day conference was aimed at heightening awareness on the latest Infocomm Technology (ICT) security threats within the public and private sectors. This year’s Govware conference focused on the theme of “Security4U 24/7” and was officially launched with an opening address by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs. 

Opening Address by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee	Participants at Govware 2007

A new highlight for this year’s conference was the exclusive by-invitation only CXO Special Track workshop, “Information Security and Governance – What You Really Need to Know”, held on the first day of Govware 2007. This workshop was jointly conducted by Republic Polytechnic staff from the School of Information & Communications Technology (SIT), and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The SIT staff involved included Mr. Mervin Beng (Director, SIT), Dr. Liew Beng Keat, Mr. William Kwok, Mr. Seow Khee Wei and Mr. Felix Lee. Invited senior executives from the public and private sectors such as Mindef, DSTA, MFA, ICA, OCBC and SingTel were updated on the security threats of a USB Trojan and given real-time exposure to hacking. It was very quickly clear to the executives that there is indeed a real threat in the digital frontier. Professor Desai from SMU followed with his presentation on IT security governance issues. The workshop concluded with a dialogue session involving key industry players from the security field, and chaired by Mr. Beng.

Beng Keat kicking off the programme	William conducting real-time 'hacking' sessions with participants
Mervin sharing at Govware 07	SIT Team from Left: Khee Wei, Beng Keat, Mervin, Felix, William

Mr. Beng was also invited to speak at the Govware 2007 conference on the topic of "Information Security and Governance – What You Really Need to Know". 

This conference has provided excellent exposure for Republic Polytechnic and SIT, and we are happy to have established a leading position in Information Security among the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) in Singapore.

Words by Leong Wai Kit & Rachel Tan (SIT). (VO) & edited by LH/OCC.