For more secure working environment, public servants in Singapore will be blocked from accessing the internet on their work computers. Blocking will start next May, said the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the organization in charge of the change.
In Singapore, next May, all the public servants will be cut-off of the internet. Such a change aims to plug “potential leaks from work e-mails and shared documents amid heightened security threats,” the Straits Times newspaper informs. Singaporeans have responded with scepticism online, and some people assured the move contradicted Singapore’s much-promoted Smart Nation technology initiative.
According to the Infocomm Development Authority: “The Singapore Government regularly reviews our IT security to make our IT network more secure.” Everyone remembers the 2013 Anonymous cyber attacks, even the official site of the prime minister was hacked. So, forthcoming changes aim to make public work environments throughout the Singapore more secure and less vulnerable in terms of cyber security.
The only one question arose: will it work for making public services’ environment really more secure? However, the employees will still use email, moreover, they’ll be able to access the web on their personal devices. Finally, at any case, Singaporeans employees would be able to forward work e-mails to private accounts, if they really needed to click on links. So what’s the point?
It’s hardly to believe, that an increasing the use of personal internet-connected devices in the workplace will decrease the possible leaks, e.g. The system of ‘No internet’ for public servants should be more clear-cut, experts say.
