Reports from Asia say that Singapore is to open a new Cyber Security Lab in a bid to combat criminal hacking by training  law enforcement officers in the latest anti-cyber crime techniques.

The announcement came during a session in the Singapore parliament last Friday (8 March) according to  ZD NET Asia. The Deputy Prime Minister, Teo Chee Hean, said that the new facility would be up and running by  2014 and set up in partnership with the Singapore IT Security Authority (SITSA).

According to the Philipine Star, the deputy prime minister said that Singapore was particularly at risk from cyber attacks because of what he described as its advanced, highly networked government. “The inter-dependency of its network means that a successful attack in one sector would have knock-on effects which could effectively paralyze the nation.” he said.

Singapore is close to completing a country-wide high speed fiber optic broadband network and was recently ranked the third most globalized country in the world.