
Singapore Military Helps Battle Cyberattack: Minister
Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said these select units will work with the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) in a united government response to the threat, local media reported.
Chan described the cyberattack as "one example of the emerging threats" that the military has to handle, the reports said.
There have been no reported breaches so far.
Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam first disclosed the attack late Friday, describing it as a type of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) that poses a serious danger to the city-state.
An APT refers to a cyberattack in which an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorised access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time.
"I can say that it is serious and it is ongoing. And it has been identified to be UNC3886," Shanmugam said, referring to the alleged attackers.
Shanmugam, who is also home affairs minister, did not elaborate in his speech on the group's sponsors or the origin of the attack.
But Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant described UNC3886 as a "highly adept China-nexus cyber espionage group".
APT actors typically steal sensitive information and disrupt essential services, such as healthcare, telecoms, water, transport and power, Shanmugam said.
"If it succeeds, it can conduct espionage and it can cause major disruption to Singapore and Singaporeans," he added.
A successful breach of Singapore's power system, for example, could wreak havoc with the electricity supply, with knock-on effects on essential services, such as healthcare and transport.
"There are also economic implications. Our banks, airports and industries would not be able to operate. Our economy can be substantially affected," Shanmugam said.
Between 2021 and 2024, suspected APTs against Singapore increased more than fourfold.
A cyber breach of a public healthcare cluster in 2018 accessed the medication records of about 160,000 patients, including then prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Beijing's embassy in Singapore on Saturday expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with media reports linking UNC3886 to China.
In a statement, the embassy said it "firmly opposes any unwarranted smearing of China" and that "in fact, China is one of the main victims of cyberattacks".
The statement added: "China firmly opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks in accordance with the law. China does not encourage, support, or condone hacking activities."
Asked by reporters Saturday about the link between UNC3886 and China, The Straits Times newspaper quoted Shanmugam as saying: "As far as the Singapore government is concerned, we can say we are confident that it is this particular organisation. Who they are linked to, and how they operate, is not something I want to go into."
Information Minister Josephine Teo said in a Facebook post Saturday that the alleged attacker was publicly named because it was "important for Singaporeans to know where the attack is coming from and what the potential consequences will be".
The attack on Singapore's critical infrastructure "highlights the extraordinary challenges posed by APT actors," said Satnam Narang, senior staff research engineer at US-based cybersecurity firm Tenable.
"Combating such stealthy opponents is becoming increasingly demanding as the scale and complexity of IT infrastructure that organisations and nations must defend continues to grow," he said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Int'l Business Times
15 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Polls Open In Taiwan's High-stakes Recall Election
Taiwanese voters turned out at schools, churches and community centres on Saturday to cast their ballot in a high-stakes recall election that could give President Lai Ching-te's party control of the parliament. Supporters of Lai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are seeking to unseat 31 lawmakers belonging to the main opposition Kuomintang party, who they accuse of being pro-China and a security threat. The KMT, which wants closer ties with Beijing, controls parliament with the help of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and has slammed the unprecedented recall effort as a power grab. Polling stations opened around Taiwan at 8:00 am (0000 GMT) with 24 KMT lawmakers facing potential recall. Elections for another seven KMT lawmakers will be held on August 23. Both major parties held rain-soaked rallies in the days leading up to the critical vote, which has dominated Taiwanese politics, newspaper headlines and social media feeds for months. While Lai won the presidential election in 2024, his DPP party lost its majority in parliament. Since then, the KMT and TPP have joined forces to stymie Lai's agenda, and slashed or frozen parts of the government's budget. Contentious opposition bills, including an attempt to expand parliament's powers, sparked brawls in the legislature and massive street protests -- and spurred civic groups to launch the recall campaign. The DPP needs a minimum of 12 KMT lawmakers recalled to gain temporary control of the parliament, with risk analysis firm Eurasia Group giving that outcome "a 60 percent probability". Lai's party would then need to flip six seats in by-elections later this year to cement its dominance in the 113-seat parliament -- which analysts say would be a formidable challenge. Whatever the result of the recall and by-elections, analyst Lev Nachman said political divisions in Taiwan were certain to deepen. "The way that the recalls have played out have been perhaps some of the most divisive language used towards both camps that I think I've ever seen," Nachman, a political scientist and longtime observer of Taiwan, told AFP. In recent months, KMT chairman Eric Chu has compared Lai's government to Hitler's Nazi regime, while Lai has spoken of "removing impurities" to defend Taiwan's sovereignty. Beijing has loomed large over the recall vote, with Taipei warning of "visible evidence" that China was trying to interfere in the process. Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. For a KMT lawmaker to lose their seat, the number of votes in favour of recalling them must exceed those against and also be more than 25 percent of the total number of registered voters in the electorate. Turnout will be critical and both sides have been lobbying their supporters for weeks to get out to vote before polling stations close.


DW
a day ago
- DW
EU-China summit exposes deepening tensions – DW – 07/25/2025
Despite calls for cooperation and limited climate pledges, the EU-China summit exposed deep divisions and confirmed that long-term tensions are likely to persit. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing at a tense bilateral summit, making no headway on geopolitical disputes and only modest advances on trade and climate change. While EU leaders raised concerns over China's export surplus flooding European markets with cheap goods, and Beijing allegedly providing support for Russia's war in Ukraine, Chinese officials denied responsibility for these challenges and instead called for a deepening of the partnership. "As our cooperation has deepened, so have imbalances," von der Leyen told Xi during their meeting, describing EU-China trade imbalances as having reached "an inflection point" where China must "come forward with real solutions." But Xi told von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa that "there are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions' between the two sides and urged the bloc to "properly handle differences and frictions." "It is hoped that the European side will keep the trade and investment market open and refrain from using restrictive economic and trade tools," Xi said, according to a Chinese version of a press release published by China's Foreign Ministry. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Despite the apparent discrepancy over trade and the Ukraine war, the two sides found common ground on climate change, releasing a joint statement that reaffirmed their commitment to deepen cooperation on green transition. They have also agreed to establish what von der Leyen described as an "upgraded export supply mechanism" aimed at fast-tracking licenses for rare earth materials — over which China dominates global supply and has recently tightened export controls. Still, the summit is unlikely to shift the trajectory of EU-China tensions in the long run, said Abigael Vasselier, head of the foreign relations team at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), a think tank, during an online media briefing. "Europe needs to be ready for a long-term struggle and probably needs to rethink its China strategy at this stage," she said. In the run-up to the summit, EU-China relations hit rock bottomamid trade friction and geopolitical grievances. Earlier this month, the bloc included Chinese banks and companies for the first time in a new sanctions package against Russia for its attack on Ukraine. Beijing then threatened to respond with necessary steps to counter Europe's move that "seriously harmed the trade, economic and financial ties." Revived hawkish rhetoric towards China was evident in a recent speech by von der Leyen, in which she accused China of "de-facto enabling Russia's war economy." At a press conference following the summit, the European leader once again urged China to use its influence to "make sure that Russia is coming seriously to the negotiation table." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an affiliated scholar at the Free University of Brussels, said the message the EU sends to China was "clear and consistent" once again at the summit. "What Europe needs to do is to hold its ground and try to stay as coherent as possible … so that we do not allow China to divide and undermine the unity that we have," she told DW. Prior to the summit, many in Brussels were surprised by reports of an unexpectedly frank remark made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who allegedly told the EU's top diplomat that it would not be in Beijing's interest to see a Russian loss in Ukraine. Wang Guochen, a China economy assistant research fellow at Taiwan's Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), said these recent interactions have escalated tensions and the summit once again "confirmed that China-EU relations are unlikely to improve." During his speech at the summit, China's Xi mentioned a "win-win situation" multiple times to invite the EU to "jointly promote an equal and orderly world multipolarization and inclusive economic globalization." Grzegorz Stec, head of the Brussels office at MERICS, told DW prior to the summit that Beijing's goal is to "erode the EU's de-risking and trade defense strategies and keep the market open for as long as possible." China is currently dealing with overcapacity against a backdrop of limited domestic consumption and 33 consecutive months of deflation as of June. "China is producing too much and it needs those goods to go somewhere. That's what makes access to Europe still relevant and important," Stec told DW. By limiting the summit's deliverables to rare earth-related agreements, China appears to be leveraging its export restrictions on critical minerals to pressure the EU into scaling back, or even lifting, tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese electric vehicles. Under Beijing's new regulations, exporters of rare earth elements and magnets must obtain a license for every shipment and submit documentation detailing how the materials will be used. And although the summit produced an agreement on an "upgraded export supply mechanism," it likely fell short of European businesses' expectations of easing the stringent export controls. Even though the summit ended with few meaningful outcomes, it may still be seen as a positive result from Beijing's perspective, given the worsening transatlantic relationship. Just a day before the meeting, EU diplomats told reporters that the bloc was moving towards a trade deal with Washington that would impose a broad 15% tariff on EU goods — avoiding a previously proposed 30% rate. Still, a growing number of EU member states, including Germany, are reportedly considering invoking wide-ranging "anti-coercion" measures if a deal cannot be reached by August 1. "China could demonstrate that it is committed to pursuing cooperation and project itself as a solution provider, as a peace supporter in a turbulent world," Ferenczy said. "This is the language the Chinese side often uses both internationally and domestically — that China and the EU are meant for positive cooperation," she added. But not everyone sees Beijing as having the upper hand after the summit. "From my perspective, Beijing actually lost out here," said Wang, the China economy researcher. "With US-EU relations being strained … Beijing still didn't succeed in winning over Europe." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video


Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
Google Ordered To Pay Argentine Pictured Naked In His Yard
An Argentine captured naked in his yard by a Google Street View camera has been awarded compensation by a court after his bare behind was splashed over the internet for all to see. The policeman had sought payment from the internet giant for harm to his dignity, arguing he was behind a two-meter (6.6-foot) wall when a Google camera captured him in the buff, from behind, in small-town Argentina in 2017. His house number and street name were also laid bare, broadcast on Argentine TV covering the story, and shared widely on social media. The man claimed the invasion exposed him to ridicule at work and among his neighbors. Another court last year dismissed the man's claim for damages, ruling he only had himself to blame for "walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home." Google, for its part, claimed the perimeter wall was not high enough. Appeals judges, however, concluded the man's dignity had been flagrantly violated, and awarded him an amount in Argentine pesos equivalent to about $12,500, payable by Google. "This involves an image of a person that was not captured in a public space but within the confines of their home, behind a fence taller than the average-sized person. The invasion of privacy... is blatant," they wrote. The judges said "there is no doubt that in this case there was an arbitrary intrusion into another's life." And they found there was "no justification for (Google) to evade responsibility for this serious error that involved an intrusion into the plaintiff's house, within his private domain, undermining his dignity. "No one wants to appear exposed to the world as the day they were born." The judges pointed to Google's policy of blurring the faces and license plates of people and vehicles photographed for Street View as evidence it was aware of a duty to avoid harm to third parties. But in this case, "it was not his face that was visible but his entire naked body, an image that should also have been prevented." The court absolved co-accused telecoms company Cablevision SA and news site El Censor of liability for the image spreading, saying their actions had "helped highlight the misstep committed by Google."