Singapore public servants' computers to have no Internet access from May next year

[risingsinga]

All computers used officially by public servants in Singapore will be cut off from the Internet from May next year, in an unprecedented move to tighten security.

A memo is going out to all government agencies, ministries and statutory boards here about the Internet blockade a year from now, The Straits Times has learnt.

There are some 100,000 computers in use by the public service and all of them will be affected.

"The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT measures to make our network more secure," a spokesman for the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said when contacted.

The move is aimed at plugging potential leaks from work e-mail and shared documents amid heightened security threats.


Trials started with some employees within the IDA - the lead agency for this exercise - as early as April. Web surfing can be done only on the employees' personal tablets or mobile phones as these devices do not have access to government e-mail systems. Dedicated Internet terminals have been issued to those who need them for work.

The Straits Times understands that public servants will be allowed to forward work e-mails to their private accounts, if they need to.

It is rare even for banks, telcos and casinos - which are known to have the strictest computer-use policies - to cut off Internet access on all work terminals.

Banks give only some personnel - such as analysts, sales staff and corporate communications employees - Internet access, but file-sharing, Web-hosted e-mail and pornography websites are blocked. The fear is that staff may download malware accidentally from dodgy websites, or share sensitive documents online.

Mr Aloysius Cheang, Asia-Pacific executive vice-president of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, said the Government's move marks a return to the past - the 1990s - when Internet access was available only on dedicated terminals.

"In the past, it was hard for malware to extract sensitive information from within government networks," he said. "Now, it is hard to control any leak on social media or file-sharing sites."

It will take time to convince users about the new system as the Internet is ingrained in most work processes. One teacher noted that he uses it extensively to develop worksheets and test papers.



This is rather unfortunate. How is it in your country?


http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...to-have-no-internet-access-from-may-next-year
@Joe Shearer @Indus Falcon @Laozi @Djinn @war&peace

 

[war&peace]

Hi,

In USA, it varies a lot from company to company and organisation to organisation. In my company, the security concerns are high and especially after the cyber attacks by Chinese on USA, we have taken most of our systems offline and dedicated systems for internet have been provided.

 

[Djinn]

Depends on the organization/institution,the place where i did my last internship didn't even allow cellphones but then that is an institution of a type of which only few exist in the world. However banning the internet entirely from all government departments doesn't make any sense......Seems like a very regressive step. How come all the government departments in Singapore deal with critical info so much so that the internet is considered a security drag?

 

[Joe Shearer]

All computers used officially by public servants in Singapore will be cut off from the Internet from May next year, in an unprecedented move to tighten security.

A memo is going out to all government agencies, ministries and statutory boards here about the Internet blockade a year from now, The Straits Times has learnt.

There are some 100,000 computers in use by the public service and all of them will be affected.

"The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT measures to make our network more secure," a spokesman for the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said when contacted.

The move is aimed at plugging potential leaks from work e-mail and shared documents amid heightened security threats.


Trials started with some employees within the IDA - the lead agency for this exercise - as early as April. Web surfing can be done only on the employees' personal tablets or mobile phones as these devices do not have access to government e-mail systems. Dedicated Internet terminals have been issued to those who need them for work.

The Straits Times understands that public servants will be allowed to forward work e-mails to their private accounts, if they need to.

It is rare even for banks, telcos and casinos - which are known to have the strictest computer-use policies - to cut off Internet access on all work terminals.

Banks give only some personnel - such as analysts, sales staff and corporate communications employees - Internet access, but file-sharing, Web-hosted e-mail and pornography websites are blocked. The fear is that staff may download malware accidentally from dodgy websites, or share sensitive documents online.

Mr Aloysius Cheang, Asia-Pacific executive vice-president of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, said the Government's move marks a return to the past - the 1990s - when Internet access was available only on dedicated terminals.

"In the past, it was hard for malware to extract sensitive information from within government networks," he said. "Now, it is hard to control any leak on social media or file-sharing sites."

It will take time to convince users about the new system as the Internet is ingrained in most work processes. One teacher noted that he uses it extensively to develop worksheets and test papers.



This is rather unfortunate. How is it in your country?


http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...to-have-no-internet-access-from-may-next-year
@Joe Shearer @Indus Falcon @Laozi @Djinn @war&peace

This move is worth watching very closely.

The convergence between standard computing systems - terminals, desktop PCs, laptops - and computing devices - tablets, smart phones - has come to an extent where it is difficult to sharply demarcate domains. It is an administrative nightmare. Take the mention of e-mail being available on officials' private devices, for instance. Do they then get to send replies to those e-mails from their private devices? And do replies to that get duplicated to both places where their accounts exist? And if so, how do they limit access to their official networks, just through firewalls?

It seems like a noble, but extremely difficult objective.

Of course, in the old days, with RACF, and no question of Internet access, all this wouldn't have mattered.

As I wrote,worth watching very closely. If it gets pulled off, it will only be due to the discipline and work orientation of the Singapore official domain.

All computers used officially by public servants in Singapore will be cut off from the Internet from May next year, in an unprecedented move to tighten security.

A memo is going out to all government agencies, ministries and statutory boards here about the Internet blockade a year from now, The Straits Times has learnt.

There are some 100,000 computers in use by the public service and all of them will be affected.

"The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT measures to make our network more secure," a spokesman for the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said when contacted.

The move is aimed at plugging potential leaks from work e-mail and shared documents amid heightened security threats.


Trials started with some employees within the IDA - the lead agency for this exercise - as early as April. Web surfing can be done only on the employees' personal tablets or mobile phones as these devices do not have access to government e-mail systems. Dedicated Internet terminals have been issued to those who need them for work.

The Straits Times understands that public servants will be allowed to forward work e-mails to their private accounts, if they need to.

It is rare even for banks, telcos and casinos - which are known to have the strictest computer-use policies - to cut off Internet access on all work terminals.

Banks give only some personnel - such as analysts, sales staff and corporate communications employees - Internet access, but file-sharing, Web-hosted e-mail and pornography websites are blocked. The fear is that staff may download malware accidentally from dodgy websites, or share sensitive documents online.

Mr Aloysius Cheang, Asia-Pacific executive vice-president of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, said the Government's move marks a return to the past - the 1990s - when Internet access was available only on dedicated terminals.

"In the past, it was hard for malware to extract sensitive information from within government networks," he said. "Now, it is hard to control any leak on social media or file-sharing sites."

It will take time to convince users about the new system as the Internet is ingrained in most work processes. One teacher noted that he uses it extensively to develop worksheets and test papers.



This is rather unfortunate. How is it in your country?


http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...to-have-no-internet-access-from-may-next-year
@Joe Shearer @Indus Falcon @Laozi @Djinn @war&peace

Coming to how things are in my country, it is completely indeterminate. Some institutions and offices have strictly limited access. Some think that they are secure, when in reality, they are wide open, and must be causing serious attendance problems among IT warriors in the PRC, making them stay home sick because they have stitches in their sides laughing. Every time Pakistani hackers feel unhappy with something India has done, they break into a government web-site and fling poo. Military secrets are frequently on laptops where they shouldn't be, and laptops are frequently left carelessly lying around, asking to be stolen, when they shouldn't be.

During particularly difficult dark moments, it sometimes seems that shutting off all computers in the small percentage of government offices that have them might actually speed things up. OK, that was a bad remark, but it does get frustrating, not just at what is inevitable, but also at what we do to ourselves voluntarily.

 

[TMA]

Depends on the organization/institution,the place where i did my last internship didn't even allow cellphones but then that is an institution of a type of which only few exist in the world. However banning the internet entirely from all government departments doesn't make any sense......Seems like a very regressive step. How come all the government departments in Singapore deal with critical info so much so that the internet is considered a security drag?

Out of curiosity, what type of institution did you work in where cellphones were not allowed?

 

[risingsinga]

This move is worth watching very closely.

The convergence between standard computing systems - terminals, desktop PCs, laptops - and computing devices - tablets, smart phones - has come to an extent where it is difficult to sharply demarcate domains. It is an administrative nightmare. Take the mention of e-mail being available on officials' private devices, for instance. Do they then get to send replies to those e-mails from their private devices? And do replies to that get duplicated to both places where their accounts exist? And if so, how do they limit access to their official networks, just through firewalls?

It seems like a noble, but extremely difficult objective.

Of course, in the old days, with RACF, and no question of Internet access, all this wouldn't have mattered.

As I wrote,worth watching very closely. If it gets pulled off, it will only be due to the discipline and work orientation of the Singapore official domain.




Coming to how things are in my country, it is completely indeterminate. Some institutions and offices have strictly limited access. Some think that they are secure, when in reality, they are wide open, and must be causing serious attendance problems among IT warriors in the PRC, making them stay home sick because they have stitches in their sides laughing. Every time Pakistani hackers feel unhappy with something India has done, they break into a government web-site and fling poo. Military secrets are frequently on laptops where they shouldn't be, and laptops are frequently left carelessly lying around, asking to be stolen, when they shouldn't be.

During particularly difficult dark moments, it sometimes seems that shutting off all computers in the small percentage of government offices that have them might actually speed things up. OK, that was a bad remark, but it does get frustrating, not just at what is inevitable, but also at what we do to ourselves voluntarily.

Nice perspective

Seems like a very regressive step. How come all the government departments in Singapore deal with critical info so much so that the internet is considered a security drag?

Good point

 

[jhungary]

Depending on the sensitivities level on the information, this could be counter intuitive to the functioning of a government.

Within the US government, there existed a system that govern how the sensitive information was store and retrieve. Range from the lowest level of password protected information (Such as LEA-Intranet) to dedicated SCIF. Even SCIF have a number of different security protocol involve, the one I used to work when I was on loan to the NSA, you are require to go thru a powerful magnet (They have a term for it but I forgot) and basically destroy all electronic signature when you go past the gate, in and out, and all the phones and electronic in your person have to deposit to the front desk or they will be destroyed when you are going pass the EM Screen, and even so, that only store level 2 TS/SCI info.

Government need internet to function, too much restriction will most definitely affect the efficiency on governmental function, and even intelligence organisation do require OSINT from time to time, it would be hard to pull that off if internet is restricted.

 

[rott]

Lol, too much p0rn during working hours

 

[Jlaw]

Lol, too much p0rn during working hours

The SG government workers are surfing more than working. I worked in one company where they blocked Youtube, Amazon, FAcebook because people were hardly working and logging on these sites specifically bogging down bandwidth.

 

[Mista]

Maybe they surf too much of Facebook and forums during office hours. We may see an improvement in productivity for public servants soon.