S’pore tests eye scans at ‘immigration’ checkpoint

Cyberattack state-linked?

SINGAPORE, Aug 6, (Agencies): Singapore has started scanning travellers’ eyes at some of its border checkpoints, its immigration authority said on Monday, in a trial of expensive technology that could one day replace fingerprint verification.

It is the latest in a series of high-tech initiatives in the city-state, some of which have stoked privacy concerns among rights advocates, aimed at improving efficiency and security as the threat of militancy in the region has ratcheted up.

Iris-scanning technology, which has been used in other countries like the United States and the United Kingdom with varying degrees of success, can cost five times more than existing fingerprint systems, according to experts. “The trials will help us in our consideration of whether and how we should implement such technology at our checkpoints,” the Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA) said in an emailed statement.

The move will be implemented at two checkpoints on its northern border with Malaysia and one at a ferry terminal running services to nearby Indonesian islands.

The ICA has been collecting iris images from Singaporean citizens and permanent residents when they apply for identity cards or a passport since January last year.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is considering using facial recognition systems to find late passengers and the country also plans to use facial recognition capabilities in a project to fit cameras and sensors on over 100,000 lampposts.

Iswaran

Improve

Singapore’s government says these measures are pragmatic ways to improve people’s lives and safety and has pledged to be sensitive to privacy.

The cosmopolitan financial hub says it has been the target of militant plots for years, some stemming from its Muslim-majority neighbours, and that it is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ militants will strike.

A cyberattack that breached 1.5 million health records in Singapore has been attributed to sophisticated attackers who may be state-linked, a Cabinet minister said Monday.

S. Iswaran, minister for communications and information, said in Parliament that the government’s detailed analysis of last month’s cyberattack on SingHealth records found it was the work of an “advanced persistent threat” group.

Such groups comprise sophisticated cyberattackers and are typically state-linked groups “who conduct extended, carefully planned cyber campaigns, to steal information or disrupt operations,” Iswaran said.

The attackers used tools that were advanced and sophisticated, “including customized malware that was able to evade SingHealth’s anti-virus software and security tools,” he said.

Citing national security reasons, Iswaran said he would not reveal which state was thought to be behind the attack. Iswaran said other recent cyberattacks by such advanced persistent threat groups include the 2016 hacking of the US. Democratic National Committee and the 2014 theft of more than 20 million personnel records from the United States Office of Personnel Management. The former was thought to be the work of Russia, while the later was blamed on China.

The SingHealth cyberattack occurred from June 27 to July 4, and specifically and repeatedly targeted the health records of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In the process, the personal particulars of 1.5 patients — including the outpatient dispensed medical records of 160,000 — were accessed and copied.

Patients’ information was not amended or deleted and the hackers did not have access to other records, such as diagnosis documents, test results or doctors’ notes.

Iswaran said it was Singapore’s most serious breach of personal data. While the country will “do our utmost to strengthen our cybersecurity,” he cautioned that it was impossible to completely eliminate the risk of another such attack.