‘S’pore cyber attack may be state-linked’
SINGAPORE: The biggest ever cyber attack to hit Singapore was carried out by highly sophisticated hackers typically linked to foreign governments, a minister said on Monday, but did not give names.
Hackers broke into a government database and stole the health records of 1.5 million Singaporeans, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who was specifically targeted in the “unprecedented” hack, the government has said.
“We have done a detailed analysis of this attack and have determined that it is the work of an advanced persistent threat (APT) group,” minister for communications and information S. Iswaran said.
“This refers to a class of sophisticated cyber attackers typically state-linked who conduct extended, carefully planned cyber campaigns to steal information or disrupt operations,” he told parliament.
Iswaran said the APT group “was persistent in its efforts to penetrate and anchor itself on the network, bypass the security measures and illegally access and exfiltrate data”.
While the attack fitted the profile of “certain known APT groups”, Iswaran said he would not publicly give any names for reasons of national security.
Hackers used a computer infected with malware to gain access to the database between June 27 and July 4 before administrators spotted “unusual activity”, authorities have said.
Healthcare data is of interest to hackers because it can be used to blackmail people in positions of power, Jeff Middleton, chief executive of cybersecurity consultancy Lantium, said last month. – AFP