01 March 2017•Update: 01 March 2017
By Kirsten Han
SINGAPORE
Cyber security experts have suggested that a recent breach into the Singapore Ministry of Defense’s Internet system could have involved foreign state-sponsored entities, local media reported Wednesday.
The defense ministry stated in a news release that they had detected a breach of their Internet access system, known as I-net, in early February, resulting in the theft of the identification numbers, telephone numbers and dates of birth of around 850 national servicemen and ministry employees.
"The attack on I-net appeared to be targeted and carefully planned,” the ministry said in its release. "The real purpose may have been to gain access to official secrets, but this was prevented by the physical separation of I-net from our internal systems."
Nick Savvides, security advocate for Symantec Asia-Pacific and Japan, told local news website TODAYonline that the involvement of state-sponsored entities could not be ruled out.
“Considering the high profile of the victim involved in this cyber breach and level of sophistication involved, attacks of this level generally involve state-sponsored actors or highly skilled politically motived hacker groups,” he said.
Steven Wong, president of the Association of Information Security Professionals, pointed out that a well-targeted breach such as this one would likely have required a reconnaissance phase, during which the Ministry of Defense’s systems were monitored for weaknesses.
He added that it would now be important for all those affected to practice “good digital hygiene” such as resetting their passwords and reporting any suspicious activity involving their personal information, so that the 850 compromised accounts cannot be used as part of a further breach that might lead to the theft of more information.
The ministry said in its release that classified data is stored on a different computer system, which is not connected to the Internet and is subject to more stringent security measures.
While the breach is currently under investigation, all other computer systems within the ministry and the Singapore Armed Forces are also being checked.
