Malware hits S’pore public service job portal vendor

SINGAPOrE: Job applicants for public service jobs in Singapore could have had their information compromised, as a malware infection was found to have hit an outsourced Australianbased vendor here.

Users of the Careers@Gov online portal, which lists job positions and takes in applications for public sector vacancies, were informed of a malware breach of the portal’s vendor by email on Sunday.

“At this stage, the vendor has not seen further sign of suspicious activity.

“The malware has been contained and the threat eradicated,” said the email from Careers@Gov.

The portal is run by Australian human resources software provider PageUp, which counts universities and the Australian government among its clients.

PageUp had detected the malware infection much earlier, with its chief executive and cofounder Karen Cariss posting a statement on the company’s website, saying that the company had “detected unusual activity on its IT infrastructure” on May 23.

“We have indicators that client data may have been compromised,” said Cariss, adding that the company was undergoing a forensic investigation and working with government authorities on the matter.

A check by The Straits Times yesterday morning showed that the Careers@Gov website is still running on the PageUp system.

Users of the portal are urged to change their Careers@Gov account password as an added security measure.

The Straits Times has reached out to the Public Service Division, which oversees the portal, for comments.

The breach has affected PageUp clients such as the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and the Australia Post.