Overview
Overview of Cyber Threats in 2019
OVERVIEW OF
Featured Topic
CYBER THREATS IN 2019
PHISHING
47,500
phishing URLs1 with a Singapore-link
were detected.
WEBSITE
DEFACEMENT
Singapore remains a
safe city, but scams
remain a concern
CYBERCRIME
IN SINGAPORE
873
Cybercrime cases accounted for
26.8%
Singapore-linked
of overall crime in 2019.
website defacements
were detected.
CYBER EXTORTION
2019
70
80
2018
COMMONLY SPOOFED
GOVERNMENT
ORGANISATIONS
IN SINGAPORE:
IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS
AUTHORITY (ICA)
MINISTRY OF MANPOWER (MOM)
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE (SPF)
RANSOMWARE
35
74
2017
cases of ransomware were
reported to SingCERT.
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT
530
1,731
2019
COMMAND AND CONTROL
(C&C) SERVERS AND
BOTNET DRONES
1,207
2018
2017
unique C&C servers
858
were observed in
Singapore.
70%
of incidents reported to SingCERT by Small and
botnet drones (compromised computers
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and members of the
infected with malicious programs) with
public occurred through phishing attacks.
Singapore Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
2,300
ONLINE CHEATING
7,629
2019
2018
2017
4,928
4,419
were observed daily, on average.
1
4
URLs — Uniform Resource Locators; colloquially termed web addresses.
SINGAPORE CYBER LANDSCAPE 2019
2
Cybercrime continues to be on the rise in
Singapore, with 9,430 cases reported in 2019 —
this was a 51.7 per cent increase from the 6,215
cases reported in 2018, and it accounted for
more than one-quarter of all crime in Singapore
last year.2 Online cheating remains a major
concern as cybercriminals continue to leverage
the anonymity afforded by the Internet to target
unsuspecting victims.
E-commerce scam remains the top scam type
in Singapore and recorded a 30 per cent increase
to 2,809 cases from 2,161 cases in 2018. The
total amount cheated in e-commerce scams
also increased to S$2.3 million, from S$1.9
million in 2018. Unsuspecting victims continue
to be enticed by online deals, such as electronic
gadgets and event tickets, which are often too
good to be true.
Fighting crime is a community effort. Even
while the Police continues to educate the public
on crime prevention measures and work with
relevant stakeholders to disrupt scam operations,
members of the public must also play their part
by taking active steps to safeguard themselves
online. They should use trusted payment services
provided by the e-commerce platforms to mitigate
the risk of falling prey to e-commerce scams.
Figures provided by Singapore Police Force (SPF) as of 10 June 2020.
5