New Cyber Security Agency to be set up in April: Some cases of cyber security leaks and attacks in Singapore

SINGAPORE - A new Cyber Security Agency will be set up in April to coordinate efforts to protect national systems, such as those in the energy and banking sectors, from increasing cyber threats.

The high-level agency, to be financed by the Prime Minister's Office, will be helmed by Mr David Koh, 50, deputy secretary of technology at the Ministry of Defence. Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim will be the minister in charge of cyber security.

There have been several cases of cyber threats reported in the media.

In November 2013, the Ang Mo Kio Town Council's website was hacked by a person who signed off as "The Messiah". That incident happened less than two weeks after a People's Action Party-linked website was compromised.

Following these attacks, a video purportedly posted by hacker group Anonymous appeared on YouTube. In the video, the group threatened to bring down Singapore's infrastructure in a show of protest against licensing regulations on news sites.

In a more recent case of a cyber security leak, the personal data of over 300,000 customers of karaoke chain K Box Singapore was posted online.

Here's a look at some of the cases:


Ang Mo Kio Town Council website hacked

Police confirmed on Oct 30, 2013 they were investigating two hacking cases involving Ang Mo Kio Town Council's website and pre-school operator PAP Community Foundation's website.

Both were hacked within a two-week time frame by a hacker who signed off as "The Messiah".

As the town council's website carried only public information, no personal data was compromised.

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Government agencies on alert after hackers threaten attacks

Government agencies were put on alert on Nov 1, 2013 after someone claiming to be part of the global hacker group Anonymous posted an online video threatening to bring down Singapore's infrastructure in a show of protest against licensing regulations on news sites.

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Businessman admits to Istana and PMO website intrusions

Businessman Delson Moo, who was questioned by police over the hacking of the Istana's website, admitted on Nov 14, 2013 that he had committed the cyber intrusion in a moment of folly.

He also confessed that he had intruded into the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) website as well.

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PMO site hacking: Two brothers face a combined 16 charges of cyber intrusions

Two brothers, Mohammad Azhar Tahir, 27, and Mohammad Asyiq Tahir, 21, were charged on Dec 16, 2013 under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act for cases including the unauthorised modification of content on the PMO site.

This development came after businessman Delson Moo, 42, and student Melvin Teo, 17, were charged separately in court, in connection with the hacking of an Istana webpage.

None of these four men, however, was linked to James Raj Arokiasamy, the alleged hacker behind "The Messiah" pseudonym.

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Hacker who calls himself 'The Messiah' charged with hacking; More being investigated

James Raj Arokiasamy, the alleged hacker who goes by the moniker "The Messiah", was charged in court on Nov 12, 2013 for hacking into the website of Ang Mo Kio Town Council.

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Info of 4,000 on Singapore Art Museum's mailing list compromised

The names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and, in some instances, nationalities of individuals on the Singapore Art Museum's online mailing list were illegally published on New Zealand-based storage website mega.co. nz.

The information was online for at least two hours on Nov 5, 2013 before the webpage containing the data file was taken down.

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Singapore Art Museum website hacked; MOM finds duplicate site

Less than a month after their mailing list was compromised, the Singapore Art Museum's website was hacked on Nov 27, 2013.

A SAM spokesman said it was alerted by the Infocomm Development Authority on Nov 27 that the museum site was among a list of 1,500 "vulnerable websites" that was published on the Internet.

Internal checks uncovered links that had been added to a page on the museum site directing visitors to another website, but they were dead links.

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Standard Chartered Bank client statements stolen from server

Bank statements for 647 of Standard Chartered Bank's wealthiest clients were stolen and found on an alleged hacker's laptop, the bank said on Dec 4, 2013.

The dramatic revelations came to light after the arrest of hacking suspect James Raj Arokiasamy, the man behind "The Messiah" pseudonym.

Bank statements were found on James Raj's laptop during investigations.

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Personal data of 300,000 K Box Singapore clients surfaces online

At least five K Box customers confirmed with The Straits Times on Sept 16, 2014 that the leaked database contained their names, addresses and mobile phone and identity card numbers, although some information was outdated.

Details of celebrities, who were members of the karaoke chain, were also posted online.

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