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Singaporeans left reeling after cyber attack strikes 1.5 million people

Singaporeans left reeling after cyber attack strikes 1.5 million people

The story making headlines across the globe over the weekend has been what is possibly one of the worst cyber attacks to have ever hit the city-state of Singapore.

A major data breach struck Singapore’s SingHealth database on Friday (20 July 2018), leaving 1.5 million Singaporeans feeling anxious; filled with a previously latent distrust of the security of cyberspace. The public was notified of the attack via a joint press release from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Ministry of Health (MOH).

On 4 July 2018, IHiS’ database administrators detected unusual activity on one of SingHealth’s IT databases. They acted immediately to halt the activity. IHiS investigated the incident to ascertain the nature of the activity while putting in place additional cybersecurity precautions. With heightened monitoring, further malicious activities were observed.

However, this was not before approximately 1.5 million patients who visited SingHealth’s specialist outpatient clinics and polyclinics from 1 May 2015 to 4 July 2018 had their non-medical personal particulars illegally accessed and copied.

Investigations by the CSA ascertained that the hackers accessed the SingHealth IT system through an initial breach on a particular front-end workstation. They subsequently managed to obtain privileged account credentials to gain privileged access to the database. The data taken included patient names, NRIC numbers, addresses, gender particulars, race and dates of birth. Information on the outpatient dispensed medicines of about 160,000 of these patients were also exfiltrated. The records were not tampered with, i.e. no records were amended or deleted. No other patient records, such as diagnosis, test results or doctors’ notes, were breached. All patient records in SingHealth’s IT system remain intact. There has been no disruption of healthcare services during the period of the cyber attack, and patient care has not been compromised.

Upon discovery, the breach was immediately contained, preventing further illegal exfiltration.

On 10 July 2018, investigations confirmed that it was a cyber attack, and the Ministry of Health (MOH), SingHealth and CSA were informed. It was established that data was exfiltrated from 27 June 2018 to 4 July 2018. SingHealth lodged a police report on 12 Jul 2018. However, no further illegal exfiltration has been detected since 4 July 2018.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and the Integrated Health Information System (IHiS) noted that this was not the work of casual hackers or criminal gangs. They confirmed that it was a deliberate, targeted and well-planned cyberattack. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s personal particulars and information on his outpatient dispensed medicines were specifically and repeatedly targeted.

With CSA’s support, IHiS has implemented further measures to tighten the security of SingHealth’s IT systems. These include temporarily imposing internet surfing separation, placing additional controls on workstations and servers, resetting user and systems accounts, and installing additional system monitoring controls. Similar measures are being put in place for IT systems across the public healthcare sector against this threat.

The inspection has not identified evidence of a similar breach in the other public healthcare IT systems. However, it is important to note that the police investigation is ongoing.

According to the press release, SingHealth began progressively contacting all patients who visited its specialist outpatient clinics and polyclinics from 1 May 2015 to 4 July 2018 on Friday (20 July 2018), to notify them if their data had been illegally exfiltrated. The patients, whether or not their data were compromised, are to receive an SMS notification between 20 to 25 July 2018.

Patients can also access the Health Buddy mobile app or SingHealth website to check if they have been affected by this incident.

MOH has directed IHiS to conduct a thorough review of our public healthcare system, with support from third-party experts, to improve cyber threat prevention, detection and response. Areas of the review will include cybersecurity policies, threat management processes, IT system controls and organisational and staff capabilities. Advisories have been sent to all healthcare institutions, public and private, on the cybersecurity precautions and measures to be taken.

The Minister-in-Charge of Cyber Security will establish a Committee of Inquiry to conduct an independent external review of this incident.

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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