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# OCBC explains its multi-year roadmap to cyber resilience
- URL: https://www.techstories.co/ocbc-explains-its-multi-year-roadmap-to-cyber-resilience/
- Published: 2024-10-16T16:43:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-06T01:15:22.000Z
- Description: Complete with unified command centre.
- Author: Paul Mah
- Tags: Cyber Security, Data Centres, Events

How much is cyber security and resilience worth? I don't know about other banks, but OCBC's investing very heavily into it.

When David Ng invited me to drop by OCBC's booth at GovWare, I wasn't expecting much, However, I came away really impressed by its focus on resilience and security.

**Multi-year road map**

OCBC has a multi-year programme to address evolving threats, and currently uses a 3-tier strategy adapted from the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0:

- Cyber Defense Review (CDR).
- Risk Committees.
- Framework.

OCBC is in its 4th iteration, or CDR 4.0, where the plan is to maintain its level of security while improving user experience.

Some approaches used:

- Content Disarm and Reconstruction.
- Zero trust architecture.
- Immutable storage.

**A unified command centre**

To coordinate its entire IT assets, OCBC created a "Unified Technology Command Centre" with team members all sitting in the same room.

The three core teams:

1. App and infra monitoring, control.
2. Data center operations.
3. Security operations.

I was told there are around 100 dedicated personnel, who work in three shifts for around-the-clock monitoring.

And there's even a commander empowered to call all the shots - exactly like in the movies.

****My personal interpretation**  
  
I think the unified command centre is brilliant. Is a problem due to a cyberattack, an internal bug, or a failure in the data centre? Having everyone in the room eliminates finger-pointing and addresses problems quickly.  

**Infrastructure kill-switch**

From what I can see, OCBC uses a mixture of virtualised and physical assets for its infrastructure. This is deployed in a private data centre in Singapore.

- HA architecture.
- Microservices.
- CDNs.

Everything is fully redundant (active/active) and wired to a kill-switch managed from the command centre.

This means the Commander can "kill" and lock out a compromised segment without impacting operations.

For greater resilience, there's also a backup data centre in Malaysia. I hear a 2nd command centre is coming soon.

**A rising tide lifts all boats**

Banks hardly share about their IT deployments. So, credit must be given where it's due. OCBC clearly believes in improving the cyber ecosystem by sharing its experiences.

I still remember when I first met David some years ago - as the moderator of a panel where he was a panelist.

Let's just say that when he shared how OCBC conducts its phishing tests, the room of hardened cyber professionals audibly went "wah".

Buy me a coffee and I'll tell you.