The Government’s decision to stop public servants from accessing the Internet on their work computers is to segregate secure systems from online activities such as browsing, and is not meant to be a wide-ranging ban, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said.

Speaking to the media during his three-day visit to Washington DC in the United States, the Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative said it is not possible for the Government to work without the Internet: “What we’re really doing is not really cutting off Internet access, because in fact, we all need Internet access on a daily basis, in order to access information, in order to transact, and in order to deliver services to our citizens.

“What we’re doing is segregating secure email systems from other activities which you conduct on the Internet, like browsing and transacting. So it is about separation of sensitive, secure systems, from systems which are in a sense interacting on a daily basis.”

He believes that the news of the upcoming Internet protocol, to come into effect next May, has not been presented accurately.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said that cyber security is “absolutely essential” if Singapore is to become a smart nation, because electronic medical records, financial technology, and large databases with information could be abused or misused.

“You can’t afford a breach of privacy. So the way I look at it, cyber-security is the flipside of the coin of being a smart nation.”

He added that most people underestimate the dangers when systems are breached. “There is a clear and present threat of espionage and criminal activity on the Internet. And the sooner people realise this, and take steps, not just in the civil service, but even individually, to protect themselves, the better.”

On Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that he had volunteered to be the first to try out this new way of working even though he was initially reluctant, but it is doable.

He also said the upcoming measure is “absolutely necessary” in the face of growing cyber threats which are getting more sophisticated.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Today

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