Major data centres to meet stricter security, resilience rules with the passing of new Bill
The Bill helps account for a range of risks in data centres, from physical and operational continuity to cyber security.
The Digital Infrastructure Bill, passed in Singapore's Parliament on October 7th, will enforce stricter security and resilience rules on large data centres that support critical digital services in the country. The amendments to the existing Cybersecurity Act will impose similar cyber-incident reporting requirements on most major data centres, similar to those currently enforced on critical information infrastructure operators.
Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How emphasized that disruptions to data centres can have widespread effects on the economy and society, as many services rely on the same data centre or cloud service provider. Over two-thirds of Singapore's 70 data centres meet the new threshold of either $100 million in average annual revenue from users in Singapore over three years or 10 megawatts (MW) of electrical capacity required for operations.
Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform are among the major data centres that will be affected. The bill aims to ensure energy efficiency and operational resilience, including physical security, recovery from system misconfigurations, fires, floods, and power supply cuts. MPs expressed concerns about the potential impact on Singapore's competitiveness and investments, as well as the need for support in upgrading older data centres and upskilling Singaporeans for the growing sector.
The bill introduces two types of licenses: foundational digital infrastructure (FDI) and data centre (DC) licences. FDI licensees must ensure physical and cyber security, implement business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and notify the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of cybersecurity incidents or service disruptions.
DC licensees, using at least 3MW of electricity for essential computing equipment, will need to meet power usage effectiveness (PUE) requirements. While PUE is a useful starting point, Tan stressed that it does not capture every dimension of sustainability and that efficiency in electricity and water use may be considered in the future.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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