Singapore has overtaken countries including the US, Russia and China as the nation launching the most cyberattacks globally, Israeli data security firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd said.
The company, whose software tracks an average of 8 million to 10 million live cyberattacks daily, said Singapore rose to pole position after ranking in the top five attacking nations for the previous two weeks.
“It is not particularly unusual for Singapore to be featured among the top attacking countries,” Check Point’s Asia-Pacific spokeswoman Eying Wee said.
A key Southeast Asian technology hub, much of the Internet traffic flowing through Singapore originates in other countries.
That means a cyberattack recorded as coming from Singapore may have been launched outside the country, she said.
The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore said there are a number of reports measuring cyberattacks, which are based on various methodologies and therefore provide different perspectives of the situation.
“As a commercial hub with high interconnectivity, Singapore is undoubtedly an attractive target for cybercriminals,” a spokesman for the agency said in an e-mail.
It is important for the nation to maintain high cybersecurity standards and take necessary measures to protect its systems and data, the spokesman added.
The city-state, which wants to become a global technology hub, recently stepped up efforts to tighten cybersecurity after several high profile attacks on government agencies and companies.
ORCHESTRATED ATTACKS
“Singapore has now found itself on someone’s list,” Singaporean Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said in July.
“The attacks are orchestrated, the attacks are targeted, they want to steal specific information, there are minds behind this orchestration,” Ng said.
Separately, security researchers said hackers compromised popular computer-cleaning software as part of a sophisticated attack that targeted several high-profile technology companies.
CLEANING SOFTWARE
The company that sells CCleaner software — Prague-based Avast Software — said the attack affected more than 2 million computers late last month and early this month.
San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems Inc and its Talos cybersecurity group discovered and disclosed the breach after hackers targeted Cisco’s own internal domain, as well as domains of Microsoft Corp, Google, Samsung Electronics Co and other tech companies.
Cisco cybersecurity expert Craig Williams said attackers used an “advanced reconnaissance system” on hundreds of thousands of PCs with the aim of penetrating the tech companies’ domains and extracting valuable intellectual property.
Cisco said at least 20 targeted machines were infected with the secondary malware. It has not disclosed which companies were affected.
Additional reporting by AP
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks