WP chairman's phone not hacked by govt agencies: Shanmugam

State agencies did not hack Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim's iPhone, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam in Parliament yesterday.

He said he had done a quick check with the Ministry of Defence's Security and Intelligence Division, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would be interested to see the alerts Ms Lim received on her phone, and find out who is trying to "get into her phone".

Mr Shanmugam's response came after an exchange between Ms Lim (Aljunied GRC) and Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan, who was responding to a question from Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) on the Government's use of spyware.

Ms Lim said she had received a threat warning from Apple suggesting that her iPhone could have been subjected to hacking.

"Not long ago, I received a threat warning from Apple informing me that it could be that my iPhone has been the subject of hacking by state-sponsored attackers, and they also said it is likely to be so because of who I am individually or what I do," she said.

"So based on what the Minister of State said just now that reliance on technology is required for national security reasons, can I get his confirmation that I should have absolutely no concerns that the Singapore government agencies are trying to hack into my phone?"

In his response, Mr Shanmugam said that if Ms Lim was serious about finding out whether her phone had been hacked and by whom, the proper way is to approach MHA, which will do a thorough investigation.

"If you raise it in Parliament, then we must assume the intention is to publicise the fact rather than actually get to the bottom of it, and it's obvious then why it's made public," he added.

He also asked to see the Apple notification, and whether it was a general notification sent to several people or a specific one sent only to her phone. If it was only to Ms Lim, MHA would be extremely concerned since the warning was about a hack involving a state-sponsored agency, he said.

All MPs are potential targets, Mr Shanmugam said, adding: "MPs are high-value targets for foreign agencies. As our own experience and the experiences of other countries have shown, even as late as last year in Australia."

Last December, reports emerged that, about 10 years ago, Australian intelligence officers discovered that the country's telecommunications system had been breached after a software update "loaded with malicious code" from Chinese technology firm Huawei.

This allowed "private communications and information that could be used to target specific people" to be recorded and sent to China, a Bloomberg report said.

The discovery was reported to the United States and is said to be a key reason why the US has been wary of Huawei.

Mr Shanmugam said: "It is the duty of our security agencies to be very aware of whether MPs or ministers or senior civil servants or those around them or their families are being approached or suborned, and it is in the interest of Singapore and the security of Singapore that state agencies are on top of the game."

Mr Perera, a WP MP, had asked whether the Government uses spyware from Israeli firm QuaDream, and if it has deployed the spyware or other spying technologies here.

Responding, Mr Tan said: "For obvious reasons, the Government cannot and should not discuss specifics on any operational aspects or capabilities regarding our national security. One of the most critical responsibilities of the Government is to keep Singapore safe, secure, and sovereign."

He added that the Government has to deal with serious national security threats to the country such as terrorism, foreign subversion, espionage and interference.

"To this end, agencies charged with the mission of safeguarding national security necessarily have to rely on a range of intelligence capabilities, including harnessing technology."

Mr Tan suggested that Ms Lim make a police report if she has any concerns regarding her iPhone.