Microsoft sets up joint facility for transparency and cybersecurity in Singapore

It's the company's first worldwide.

Microsoft launched its first combined Transparency Center and Cybersecurity Center in Singapore, serving the Asia-Pacific region. The joint facility will for the first time bring together Microsoft capabilities in a single location in Asia-Pacific to deliver a holistic approach to serving the security needs of both the public and private sector and building a trusted and secure computing environment, a critical enabler for digital transformation.

The Microsoft Transparency Center is a cornerstone of Microsoft’s long-standing Government Security Programme (GSP), which offers participating government agencies the opportunity to review the source code of Microsoft products, access information on cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, and benefit from the expertise and insight of Microsoft security professionals. Nearly 40 countries and international organisations currently participate in the programme with 10 participants from Asia-Pacific.

The Singapore Transparency Center is a convenient location for governments in the Asia region and will be part of a global network that covers four regions, joining existing facilities in Redmond, Washington, for North America, and Brussels, Belgium, for Europe. In addition, more details of other new Microsoft Transparency Centers will be shared later in 2016, including the recently announced Transparency Center in Beijing, China.

“Public-private partnerships are key to strengthening national cybersecurity. The opening of the Microsoft regional Transparency Center in Singapore to serve the wider Asia-Pacific region, advances our worldwide commitment to drive transparency, security and trust in digital technologies in the mobile-first and cloud-first world. It is part of the Microsoft Government Security Programme, where we support, collaborate and enable governments to protect citizens, public services and national infrastructure from cybercrime threats and to meet their rigorous cybersecurity requirements by building strong capabilities to protect, detect and respond,” said Toni Townes-Whitley, Corporate Vice-President, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft Corporation.

The Microsoft Cybersecurity Center in Singapore, co-located with the Transparency Center, will enable enterprises and organisations to tap into a pool of resources such as security specialists and technologies at Microsoft. Amid rising cybercriminal activities and a rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape, the Cybersecurity Center will bring forth innovations and advancements by way of security platform, threat intelligence analytics, advanced threat protection, machine learning capabilities, security services and cloud security in a comprehensive way.