Singapore, an archipelago in Southeast Asia which has 5,8 millions of inhabitants, suffered an unprecedented cyberattack. The medical reports of 1,5 millions of inhabitants of Singapore, including that of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, were stolen.
Through a computer infected with malware, a government database was hacked and they managed to access records on the systems of four hospitals, five specialized clinics and nine other healthcare centers, compromising the data of patients who visited these facilities between May 2015 and the 4 and July 2018. The incident was described by authorities as a “deliberate, selective, and well-planned attack”.
The stolen data includes names, Addresses, gender information or birth dates, in addition to treatments. The hackers also obtained the medical prescriptions of some 160.000 patients, although local authorities stated that there has been no leak of diagnoses, test results, or doctors' notes. According to the authorities, in no case did the cybercriminals manage to obtain the complete medical records.
The Minister of Health, Gan Kim Yong, stated at a press conference that “the attackers specifically focused on the personal information and outpatient treatment reports of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong”.
The U.S. intelligence director, Dan Coats, warned in mid-July about a significant increase in cyberattacks against the United States. Coats considered that the “peores” autores de ciberataques son China, Irán, Corea del Norte y Rusia, a la que consideró “el actor extranjero más agresivo, sin ninguna duda”.
In 2017, cibercriminales ya habían accedido a una base de datos del Ministerio de Defensa y robado los datos de 850 empleados. Una comisión dirigida por un antiguo juez impulsará una investigación sobre este ataque.