Jasmine Chan, Senior Technical Consultant, Sport Singapore

How do you use technology to improve citizens' lives? Tell us about your role or organisation.

I oversee the infrastructure setup in Sport Singapore and am also the chief infrastructure architect for its citizen-centric applications, such as the MyActiveSG and Volunteers Systems.

MyActiveSG system has evolved from just 100,000 members to the current 1.1 million members in less than 18 months since its rollout.

The Volunteers System was the core management system used to train, manage and deploy volunteers to their respective roles for the South East Asian Games (SEA) 2015 and Paralympic Games 2015.

What has been the most exciting thing that you worked on in 2016?

The most fulfilling project I worked on was actually in 2015 when Singapore finally hosted the SEA Games after a 22-year hiatus. It was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me to be involved as the IT Security Lead for this extraordinary event.

The Games were a proud moment for the nation as well as engendered a sense of unity among Singaporeans. We could not allow any technical failure or IT security breach to mar this prestigious sporting event.

My team deployed a state-of-the-art security monitoring system for continuous real-time monitoring and tracking of hacking activities occurring globally that could potentially impact the organisation of the Games.

What tool or technique particularly interests you for 2017?

In 2017, with the spectre of increasing cyber threats, the next big wave will be how to secure the Internet of Things (IoT). Securing them will be an uphill task but imperative if Singapore were to realise our vision of being a Smart Nation.

If you were to share one piece of advice that you learned in 2016, what would it be?

In the IT security domain, you have to be prepared for the worst and always have a contingency plan for all scenarios to recover and resume immediately.

Who is your hero and why?

My heroes are the para-athletes, who in spite of their disabilities, have overcome all odds to fulfill their dreams of sporting glory.

And finally, if you could recommend us one place to eat, where would it be?

My favourite food is wonton mee. I ate my first bowl of wonton mee at the Farrer Park Hawker Centre when I was about three years old from this old lady’s stall. The stall was subsequently inherited by her son and relocated to the coffee shop at the junction of Jalan Besar and Lavender Road.