Data on 850 Singapore national servicemen and employees were stolen from Singapore’s Ministry of Defence. The attack was viewed as an attempt to access official secrets.
According to the Ministry of Defence, no secrets were found or stolen.
Reuters reported that the breach was detected by the ministry this month in their I-net system which allows for internet surfing on specific computer terminals on the premises of MINDEF and Singapore Armed Forces. According to the ministry, classified military information was not stored on I-net.
“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.” the statement wrote.
The data that was compromised included telephone numbers, dates of birth and national ID numbers. Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency and the Government Technology Agency is investigating other government systems, but no other breaches were detected.
Singapore has been actively separating work computers of public servants from the internet to protect against potential cyber threats. The defence an foreign affairs ministries has been on separate systems before this.
