Standard Chartered elite customer details on alleged hacker's laptop

Singapore's central bank has called on financial institutions to tighten up cybersecurity after a database on elite customers of Standard Chartered Bank was compromised.

Police confirmed yesterday that information on private-banking clients of the British lender had been found in the laptop of a Singaporean man charged with hacking the parliamentary district website of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement it had "reminded all FIs (financial institutions) to heighten their vigilance to safeguard their IT systems and customer information, including controls at third party service providers".

Police said they discovered files containing data on Standard Chartered's clients in a laptop seized from James Raj when he was arrested on November 4 in Malaysia.

The 35-year-old was extradited to Singapore and charged on November 12 with hacking the Ang Mo Kio district website, whose MPs include Lee, and posting the image of a Guy Fawkes mask used by international hacker group Anonymous. The alleged hacking was among a string of cyberattacks that have also targeted the official websites of Lee and President Tony Tan as well as pro-government media.

Some of the attackers denounced new rules requiring news websites in Singapore to obtain annual publication licences, but other hacking incidents appear to be unrelated.