Singapore’s largest health group, SingHealth, has become the latest victim of healthcare cyber crime.
This, the largest attack in Singapore history, has resulted in 1.5 million people having their personal and healthcare information stolen, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The Singapore government has described it as a “deliberate, targeted and well-planned” attack.
Latest cyber attack
The attackers gained access to the SingHealth IT system through an initial front-end workstation and then managed to gain privileged account details to access the database.
The hackers stole personal data including patient addresses and identity numbers, compromising the prescription records of 160,000 people, including that of the Prime Minister.
Looking to the future, the government of Singapore is committed to strengthening its IT systems. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) of Singapore said:
“Digital is the way of the future; we must adapt ourselves to operate effectively and securely in the digital world, to deliver better public services, enhance our economic competitiveness and create opportunities for our enterprises and our people.”
Protection against advanced cyber attacks
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