Security News

In the same week that it welcomed the launch of a local center of excellence focused on crypto-inspired central bank digital currencies, Singapore's Monetary Authority has warned crypto cowboys they face a rough ride in the island nation. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund has invested in Mojaloop, and MAS chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty serves as a board advisor and the authority provides representatives to the Foundation's working group, alongside folks from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, and more.

Cybersecurity service providers must for licenses to operate in Singapore, under new regulations launched by the country's Cyber Security Agency on Monday. Specifically, concerns were raised over whether service providers may aggregate or use anonymised client data for threat intelligence purposes, leading CSA to limit the scope of its license condition.

Singapore's Cyber Security Group, an agency charged with securing the nation's cyberspace, has uncovered four critical flaws in code from network software company Riverbed. The vulnerable application is SteelCentral AppInternals, formerly referred to as AppInternals Xpert, provided by Riverbed's Aternity division.

The topic earned ministerial attention after instances of attacks and scams soared recently. 7 million from 790 customers by spoofing text messages in what minister of finance Lawrence Wong referred to as "By far the most serious phishing scam seen" in Singapore.

A widespread phishing operation targeting Southeast Asia's second-largest bank - Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation - has prompted the Monetary Authority of Singapore to introduce regulations for internet banking that include use of an SMS Sender ID registry. Singapore banks have two weeks to remove clickable links in text messages or e-mails sent to retail customers.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore says it is considering supervisory action against Southeast Asia's second largest bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, which was criticised for its incident response to a widespread phishing scheme across the island nation. "Monetary Authority Singapore takes a serious view of the recent phishing scams involving OCBC Bank. They have significantly impacted several customers. OCBC has acknowledged that its incident response and customer service should have been better. MAS has been following up with the bank on these and broader issues relating to the incident," said MAS deputy managing director Ms Ho Hern Shin in a statement to The Register.

Singapore and the UK signed three memorandums of understanding this week, hoping to strengthen digital connectivity between the two island nations. In a canned statement, Singapore's Minister for Communications and Information, Josephine Teo, said the agreement would "Further strengthen the links between Singapore and the UK in digital trade facilitation, digital identities and cybersecurity."

Singapore's governmental digital services arm, GovTech, has launched a "Rewards programme" to further crowdsource tests of the nation's cybersecurity. The Vulnerability Rewards Programme joins the Government Bug Bounty Programme and the Vulnerability Disclosure Programme, all of which work alongside the government's own security checks.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore today released data revealing that cybercrime accounted for 43 per cent of all crime in the city-state during 2020. Ransomware attacks rose 154 per cent from 35 cases in 2019 to 89 in 2020, shifting from what CSA called "Indiscriminate, opportunistic attacks" to "Big Game Hunting".

Singapore has made its Bluetooth-powered "TraceTogether" contact-tracing app its preferred means of recording movements in public spaces across the island. The nation's effort, "TraceTogether" used Bluetooth to detect the proximity of other users, recorded such interactions and allowed contact with users in the event they had come into contact with a COVID-carrier.