Current Affairs
A revised Team Singapore, a positive new beginning
~ By Howard Lee ~
![textimage.render](https://i0.wp.com/www.theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/textimage.render.png?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
Team Singapore (photo credit www.teamsingapore.com.sg)
That question would also undoubtedly be on the minds of Singaporeans. But if you think about it, it is a strange question indeed, not least in reflecting how far we have come as an aspiring sporting nation.
With that one silver medal in Beijing 2008, Singapore is now a medal contender at the Olympics, a far cry from the long drought since the days of weightlifting silver blazed by Tan Howe Liang.
Indeed, we have achieved much in our pursuit for Olympic glory. Much can be said about the efforts of both the athletes striving for their best, and the people behind them who made their Olympic dreams possible.
It has not always been that way. It seemed not so long ago when Singapore has lamented the number of foreigners among our sporting pool, who were viewed with a fair degree of suspicion. Were they making use of their sporting abilities to get a pink IC? What have we done instead to cultivate our Singaporean sons and daughters for sporting excellence?
There was a time when the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports was seen as doing nothing more than throwing money away just to get a medal under our belt.
While that story has yet to reach its conclusion, perhaps a sliver of light has shone through. Among the ranks of the current Team Singapore, there are many more Singaporeans, born and bred here. They are young, and a few would be making their Olympic debut.
What is more, it is already clear that the majority of these athletes will not likely win medals. The immediate instinct would be, why still field them? The answer from the Singapore National Olympic Council – because they are our best, and taking part in the Games can only make them better.
For once, the direction (or at least the public relations efforts) of our national sporting bodies, not least the national Sports Councils, have been spot on, and they have to be commended for it.
As a medal contender, Singapore will never make it into the league of the true Olympic nations, but we can still be a formidable sporting nation if we get our policy compass right.
Ours should be a policy of allowing every Singaporean interested in making sports their career choice a chance to turn that dream into reality. Taking part in the Games, even if you do not make the final cut, is an important step, as much as it is a vital signal of support from your country. The current signs are encouraging.
But we still have far to go. For a start, we need to pay a better tribute to our sporting heroes, to demonstrate that they are not forgotten after their Olympic glory. It is heartening to see our ex-Olympians featured in the Straits Times, but we need to take better stock of what they have achieved, beyond mere show-pieces for the next generation of athletes.
In the course of my work the past year, I have had the opportunity to meet former Olympians like Chia Boon Leong, C Kunalan and Ang Peng Siong. They struck me as unassuming people, who thought little of their current status, and did what they did for the love of sport and country. And it is clear that they are not yet near their sporting sunset.
Ang is, of course, a recognised national coach. As for C Kunalan, I have met him at every other sporting event related to the Games I’ve been to, still active flagging of runs, opening school exhibits and leading tours at the sports museum.
How do we keep them in the sporting fraternity in a structured way that is sustainable to them as a livelihood, to tap on both their knowledge and fighting spirit for the benefit of our future athletes? This will be one of the key challenges facing our nation, if we want to signpost the future for our athletes after their competing prime.
And for another, we need to pay greater attention to our Paralympians. If anything, they are the ones hauling the medals home from the Paralympic Games, yet very little media attention has been paid on their achievements.
I’ve had to opportunity to meet some of the people at the Singapore Disability Sports Council, and their dedication is no less than those who work with able-bodied athletes. I’ve also met para-athletes Muhammad Firdaus, Theresa Goh, Yip Pin Xiu and Jovin Tan, all champions in their own right.
In them I see a fighting spirit that simply becomes a part of them, because they are essentially no different from any youngster trying to find their place in the world. What more can we do to give them the recognition they deserve and increase national awareness of their cause? That would be our moral imperative, more than anything else.
Here, I end with my best wishes to Team Singapore – you have achieved much to be where you are today. The final result at the Olympic and Paralympic Games is really the icing on the cake, and you will be no less acknowledged for what you bring home.
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Current Affairs
Man arrested for alleged housebreaking and theft of mobile phones in Yishun
A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly breaking into a Yishun Ring Road rental flat and stealing eight mobile phones worth S$3,400 from five tenants. The Singapore Police responded swiftly on 1 September, identifying and apprehending the suspect on the same day. The man has been charged with housebreaking, which carries a potential 10-year jail term.
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SINGAPORE: A 23-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a rental flat along Yishun Ring Road and stealing eight mobile phones from five tenants.
The incident occurred in the early hours on Sunday (1 September), according to a statement from the Singapore Police Force.
The authorities reported that they received a call for assistance at around 5 a.m. on that day.
Officers from the Woodlands Police Division quickly responded and, through ground enquiries and police camera footage, were able to identify and apprehend the suspect on the same day.
The stolen mobile phones, with an estimated total value of approximately S$3,400, were recovered hidden under a nearby bin.
The suspect was charged in court on Monday with housebreaking with the intent to commit theft.
If convicted, he could face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.
In light of this incident, the police have advised property owners to take precautions to prevent similar crimes.
They recommend securing all doors, windows, and other openings with good quality grilles and padlocks when leaving premises unattended, even for short periods.
The installation of burglar alarms, motion sensor lights, and CCTV cameras to cover access points is also advised. Additionally, residents are urged to avoid keeping large sums of cash and valuables in their homes.
The investigation is ongoing.
Last month, police disclosed that a recent uptick in housebreaking incidents in private residential estates across Singapore has been traced to foreign syndicates, primarily involving Chinese nationals.
Preliminary investigations indicate that these syndicates operate in small groups, targeting homes by scaling perimeter walls or fences.
The suspects are believed to be transient travelers who enter Singapore on Social Visit Passes, typically just a day or two before committing the crimes.
Before this recent surge in break-ins, housebreaking cases were on the decline, with 59 reported in the first half of this year compared to 70 during the same period last year.
However, between 1 June and 4 August 2024, there were 10 reported housebreaking incidents, predominantly in private estates around the Rail Corridor and Bukit Timah Road.
The SPF has intensified efforts to engage residents near high-risk areas by distributing crime prevention advisories, erecting alert signs, and training them to patrol their neighborhoods, leading to an increase in reports of suspicious activity.
Current Affairs
Consumers Association of Singapore fined S$20,000 for PDPA breaches following two data security incidents
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The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has been fined S$20,000 by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) for breaches under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
According to a judgement which was published on 28 August, the fine was imposed due to the consumer watchdog’s failure to implement reasonable security measures to protect the personal data in its possession and to establish necessary policies and practices required under the PDPA.
The breaches resulted in two significant incidents, one in October 2022 and another in June 2023, where the personal data of up to 34,760 individuals was potentially compromised.
Both incidents were handled under the Expedited Decision Procedure (EDP) at the request of CASE, with the organization admitting to all the facts and contraventions of the PDPA, leading to a faster resolution of the case.
The First Incident: Phishing Attack in October 2022
The first incident occurred in October 2022 when a threat actor accessed CASE’s email accounts and sent phishing emails from its official email addresses.
On 8 October 2022, some consumers received unsolicited emails from “[email protected],” which falsely claimed that their complaints had been escalated to the “collections and compensation department” and that they were eligible for compensation.
The recipients were asked to provide their banking details by clicking on a chat icon.
The following day, similar phishing emails were sent from “[email protected],” an account used for complaints that had progressed to mediation. CASE later discovered that the phishing emails had affected up to 22,542 email addresses.
Further investigations revealed that the phishing emails likely resulted from the threat actor obtaining login credentials from a CASE employee via a phishing attack.
The compromised accounts led to the sending of 5,205 phishing emails to 4,945 recipients. Although CASE acted swiftly to suspend the affected accounts and reset all administrator passwords, three consumers reported that they had clicked on the phishing links and collectively lost S$217,900. CASE subsequently lodged a police report.
The Second Incident: Data Breach During Vendor Migration
While PDPC was investigating the first incident, a second breach came to light in June 2023. On 22 June 2023, PDPC received a complaint about a phishing email that replicated a consumer’s complaint previously submitted to CASE.
This led to the discovery that the personal data of 12,218 individuals, including names, email addresses, contact numbers, and complaint details, had been exposed. The PDPC concluded that the breach likely occurred during a data migration exercise conducted by CASE between December 2019 and January 2020 when CASE switched vendors.
Investigations revealed that CASE’s contract with one of its vendors, Total eBiz Solutions Pte Ltd (TES), did not stipulate clear security responsibilities. This lack of contractual clarity contributed to the data breach during the migration process, highlighting CASE’s negligent vendor management.
PDPC Findings and Penalties
The PDPC found that CASE had failed to enforce its password management policy, with some passwords not meeting minimum length and complexity requirements and others remaining unchanged for up to four years. Furthermore, CASE’s vendor management was deemed negligent, as one of its contracts did not specify clear security responsibilities, putting personal data at risk.
CASE admitted to not conducting regular security awareness training for its staff, with the last session held five years before the first incident.
The PDPC also noted that CASE lacked an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy, particularly in relation to patching and maintaining IT systems. The absence of a documented IT infrastructure management plan, insufficient logging and monitoring practices, and the lack of security reviews over the three years preceding the first breach were significant failures highlighted in the judgment.
In assessing the financial penalty, the PDPC considered the nature and gravity of the breaches, the duration of non-compliance, and CASE’s annual turnover. The fine of $20,000 was determined to be appropriate in light of these factors.
Remedial Actions by CASE
It is said that CASE, which is headed by Mr Melvin Yong, People’s Action Party Member of Parliament for Radin Mas, has implemented several measures to enhance its cybersecurity in response to the breaches.
These include introducing multi-factor authentication for all web-based applications, strengthening password complexity requirements, decommissioning end-of-life devices, and implementing patch management software for security updates.
CASE has also revised its contracts with outsourced vendors to include data protection clauses and mandated annual data protection training for all staff members.
CASE is working towards obtaining the Cyber Essentials Mark and the Data Protection Trust Mark to reinforce its commitment to safeguarding personal data and complying with PDPA obligations.
The PDPC has directed CASE to review and update its data protection policies, rectify all identified security gaps, and report back within one week of completion. The organization has also been instructed to conduct a penetration test after addressing the vulnerabilities to ensure no further security gaps exist.
The post Consumers Association of Singapore fined S$20,000 for PDPA breaches following two data security incidents appeared first on Gutzy Asia.
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