SINGAPORE: A “serious” and ongoing cyberattack has breached Singapore’s critical infrastructure, with authorities naming UNC3886 as the attacker. Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said the group, flagged by Google-owned Mandiant as a China-linked espionage actor, is actively targeting key systems.
“These are advanced persistent threats—stealthy, well-resourced, and capable of espionage or severe disruption,” Shanmugam warned in a speech late Friday. The attack could cripple services including power, healthcare, water, telecom, and transport, with broad economic fallout.
“If our power grid is hit, banks, airports, and hospitals could grind to a halt,” he said, noting suspected APT activity has surged over fourfold since 2021.
Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency and other national bodies are responding.
A similar 2018 breach of a public healthcare cluster exposed medication records of 160,000 patients, including then-PM Lee Hsien Loong.
“The scale and complexity of IT systems make defending against such threats more difficult than ever,” said Satnam Narang of US-based cybersecurity firm Tenable. – AFP
