Hot on the heels of global internet security disaster #Cloudbleed, reports have emerged that the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) itself has become a target of cybersecurity attacks, with personal data of around 850 national servicemen and employees being stolen.
According to MINDEF, its specialised internet-connected system (I-net) was breached earlier this month — and thankfully, no classified military information was stored on it. “Classified matters in MINDEF/SAF use a different computer system with more stringent security features and are not connected to the Internet” wrote the ministry in a press release.
What was stolen was information such as NRIC numbers, telephone numbers and dates of birth of I-net users, which are stored on the system’s account management.
“The attack on I-net appeared to be targeted and carefully planned. 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 ministry assured that it’ll be beefing up its cyber defences (as it should, because it’s the Ministry of Defence), in preparation of escalated attacks.
In the meantime, MINDEF will alert those who got their information stolen — it’ll advise them to change their passwords for systems other than I-net as well. Investigations conducted by Cyber Security Agency and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore found that no other breaches to Government systems have been detected.
