Cyber Threats to Government and Public-access Online Sites

Mrs Lina Chiam asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) whether the Government websites that were down on 2-3 November 2013 were due to a planned maintenance or due to hacking; (b) what were the Government websites that were being maintained or hacked; and (c) whether sensitive data, such as that stored in the SingPass system, have been compromised if hacking is established.

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: I would like to assure the Member that the Singapore Government takes cyber security and threats to its ICT infrastructure very seriously. In response to the declared threats against the Government's ICT infrastructure in late October last year, Government agencies were put on heightened vigilance and were instructed to enhance the security of their IT systems.

On Saturday, 2 November 2013, IDA had also scheduled a preventive maintenance for Government systems to implement additional security measures from 1 pm to 3 pm. During the maintenance process, technical difficulties were encountered due to a combination of a routing issue and a hardware failure, resulting in Government websites being inaccessible to the public. By 5.20 pm, all websites were back online. The Member has asked if the websites were down due to hacking and if sensitive data were compromised. IDA has established that no Government website was hacked and no sensitive data were compromised on Saturday, 2 November.

Cyber security is largely about risk mitigation, and the Singapore Government will stay vigilant and continue to strengthen the security of our Government ICT infrastructure. If a website or system is compromised, the Government will do its utmost to ensure that the services to the public are restored as quickly as possible and the integrity of data is maintained.