Fewer cases of common cyber threats detected in Singapore in 2018

Singapore

COMMON cyber threats detected in Singapore saw a decrease last year, although cyber crime cases remain on the rise. These findings were released by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) on Tuesday morning as part of their Singapore Cyber Landscape 2018 publication.

Website defacements fell by 70 per cent to 605 last year, compared to 2,040 detected cases in 2017.

Targeted websites belonged to a range of organisations, including two Singapore government websites, as well as businesses, and media companies.

Phishing cases were down 30 per cent, from 23,420 phishing URLs with a Singapore-link in 2017, to 16,100 in 2018.

Phishing is the practice of masquerading as a reputable firm. Organisations such as the Ministry of Manpower , Singapore Police Force and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority were commonly spoofed, with victims having their personal and financial data compromised, said the report.

Last year saw 21 ransomware cases reported to the CSA, an improvement from the 25 cases two years ago.

Some 300 unique Command and Control servers were observed by the CSA last year, down 60 per cent from 2017.

Cyber crimes, which account for close to 19 per cent of overall crime in Singapore, remains on the rise, said the Singapore Police Force.

In 2018, 1,204 cases were investigated under the Computer Misuse Act, up about 40 per cent from 2017.

"Cybersecurity incidents made some of the biggest headlines in 2018," said commissioner of cybersecurity and CSA chief executive David Koh.

He added: "We have to learn from these incidents and push further in our cyber security efforts collectively as a nation, so that we can defend ourselves against increasingly sophisticated threats and prepare ourselves for a digital future."

Singapore's most serious breach of personal data occurred in June last year , where cyber attacks on SingHealth led to the personal particulars of 1.5 million patients being stolen.

Another notable incident involved four Singapore universities coming under attack from an Iranian hacking syndicate , with 52 staff accounts breached.