Singapore bans Internet access in govt offices

In an unprecedented move, the Singapore government has decided to block Internet access on all computers used by public servants for official purposes. The move, which is aimed at tightening security and to prevent data leak, will be implemented by May next year.

"The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT measures to make our network more secure," said spokesperson for the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), which is spearheading the move. All government employees have already been notified regarding the decision. Following the implementation, more than 100,000 computers that are currently used by public servants, will be affected.

The no-Internet-access model was tested on some employees within the IDA, in April. The government will allow its employees to surf the web only on their personal devices, since they don't have access government e-mail systems. The roles that require Internet access for work, have been provided with dedicated Internet terminals. However, the public servants will be allowed to forward work e-mails to their private accounts, if they need to.

The Singapore Government's decision is being viewed as arbitrary, as even banks or telcos that typically have high cyber security at place, have never put a blanket ban on Internet access. Although selective restrictions are laid on social media sites or porn sites in some companies, to prevent accidental download or installation of malicious malware from dodgy websites, or leakage of sensitive data.

"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, but now, it is hard to control any leak on social media or file-sharing sites," Aloysius Cheang, Asia-Pacific executive vice-president of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, said.