Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation hit by data breach

The company said a hacker or hacker group had accessed a server previously owned and used by it on which some of its old files were stored. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: THE NEW PAPER

SINGAPORE - Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (KTT) was the target of a data breach that may have compromised the personal details of former shareholders, former employees and its affiliates’ employees.

In a statement on Tuesday, KTT said that an unidentified hacker or hacker group had accessed a server previously owned and used by KTT on which some old KTT files were stored.

KTT has businesses in data centres and subsea cable systems in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.

The company said it immediately began an investigation with a team of cyber-security and digital forensics experts and determined that the incident was limited to the server in question.

The files on the server contained personal data which KTT said was historical data that may no longer be current or applicable. The data of former shareholders was from before KTT’s delisting from the Singapore Exchange in 2019.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for KTT said it became aware of the breach in October when suspicious activity was detected on the affected server.

In its statement, it said the breach did not involve or affect any of KTT’s existing IT systems or infrastructure. It added that it has notified the authorities and is contacting the relevant parties whose data may have been compromised.

“KTT regrets the inconvenience this cyber attack has caused its stakeholders and would like to thank them for their patience and understanding as it continues its investigation into the breach,” said the statement.

“KTT has set up a dedicated channel to provide support and assistance to any affected individuals.”

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