Singapore healthcare cyberattack: Officials will not name hackers who targeted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
- Minister of Communication and Information S Iswaran said the attacker could not be named for “national security reasons”
- A public report released last week said the attacker clearly intended to target “the personal and outpatient medication data of the Prime Minister”
Singapore officials said Tuesday that it is not in the country’s interest to nab or even name the perpetrator of a cyberattack that breached 1.5 million health records, including those of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
An inquiry into the July 4 breach, believed to be the largest in Singapore’s history, concluded it was likely state-linked. It called for hearings and considered factors like the attacker’s persistence, resources and advanced tactics.
In a public report released last week, it said “the attacker had a clear goal in mind, namely the personal and outpatient medication data of the Prime Minister in the main”. Lee is a two-time cancer survivor.
Minister of Communication and Information S Iswaran, who is also in charge of cybersecurity, told Parliament on Tuesday that the attacker could not be named for “national security reasons” and the copied personal data has not “emerged in any form” on the dark web.
The country has strengthened its cybersecurity portfolio since the breach, Iswaran said. It will adopt new systems, such as one that can aggregate, analyse and isolate threats in real time.