In what seems like a surprising and drastic move, the Singapore government has decided that all computers used by public servants will have their Internet access blocked from May 2017 onwards.
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A memo is going out to all government agencies, ministries and statutory boards here about the imminent Internet blockade a year from now, The Straits Times has learnt.
Trials started with some employees within the IDA – the lead agency for this exercise – as early as April.
The government’s Infocomm Development Authority said on Wednesday it has begun disconnecting internet access from the work stations of some government employees, and will expand the removal to all public workers by next June. “They work 12 hours a day and if they need to transfer the data physically from [a PC with internet access] to their work PC, their work load will increase tremendously”, Tan said.
“The specific actions that are prohibited in this instance are actions that attackers want Government employees to do, such as clicking on a link in a spear-phishing email, thereby allowing attackers to use the Internet surfing channels to exfiltrate stolen information”, he said.
“The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT security to make our IT network more secure”.
Mr Koh stated this “should not be seen as a move backwards” as Government employees will still have Internet connectivity.
It’s hard to predict how Singaporean public servants will cope with this change in their daily workflow, but as with all things, only time will tell. She said: “Some of my friends are secondary schoolteachers who need Google to prepare course materials and verify information…”
Another user criticized the government’s lack of confidence in their own firewall, comparing it to North Korea and Burma (Myanmar).
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Following the announcement by the Singapore Government to stop Internet access in government offices from next year, he said leaking of government information was not a major issue in Malaysia.
