The police are following up with opposition Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) regarding her claim that she received a threat warning from Apple indicating her iPhone could be the target of hacking by state-sponsored attackers.
This is a “very serious” allegation, with potential implications on national security, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Saturday (Feb 19).
Ms Lim first mentioned the threat warning in Parliament on Feb 18, following Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan highlighting that reliance on technology is required for national security reasons.
Ms Lim wished to know if she should have “absolutely no concerns” that Singapore’s state agencies were trying to hack into her phone, following the claim of receiving a notification from Apple.
The threat of hacking was “likely to be so because of who I am individually or what I do,” added Ms Lim.
“We would like to see the precise notification from Apple. Is it a general notification that they sent to a number of people, or was it a specific notification?” asked Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam in his response to Ms Lim’s statement.
“And if it was a specific notification to Ms Lim’s phone, MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) would be very interested because I’m particularly with a state-sponsored agency… this is something we are extremely concerned about.”
“She is a member of Parliament. All members of Parliament are potential targets, and we would like to know, and we would like to get to the bottom of it as to who was trying to get into her phone,” he said.
Mr Shanmugam also confirmed that Singapore state agencies did not hack Ms Lim’s phone.
He said he had a quick check with the Defence Ministry’s Security and Intelligence Division on the matter.
“I think if one serious about such threats, the proper way to do it, if you are serious about finding out whether your phone has been hacked and by whom, is to come to the MHA. We will do a thorough investigation,” said Mr Shanmugam.
“If you raise it in Parliament, then we would assume that the intention is to publicise the fact rather than actually get to the bottom of it. And it’s obvious then why it’s made public,” he added, noting they would like to see the received notification.
Meanwhile, SPF confirmed having written to Ms Lim, advising her to file a police report on the incident.
“Alternatively, if she does not wish to file a report, she can hand over her phone to the police so that a forensic examination can be conducted,” said SPF in a Straits Times report.
Mr Shanmugam also directed the police to engage with experts in this field to conduct the examination.
“He has also directed that Police put in place a secure, auditable and transparent process to handle and examine her phone, from the point in time that Ms Lim hands over the phone, to its return to her,” said SPF. /TISG
Related: