Healthcare group SingHealth is warning Singaporeans of fake SMSes being sent out, less than four hours after the authorities first announced a major cyberattack where 1.5 million patient particulars were stolen.

Fake SMSes

The text tricked recipients into thinking his/ her personal data, telephone numbers, financial details and medical records have all been accessed.

In a Facebook post on July 20 at 10pm, SingHealth highlighted the SMS below as fake and assured the public that no financial details and medical records have been accessed.

It looks something like this:

One can also use the Health Buddy mobile app with your SingPass login.

Unprecedented cyberattack

The database of SingHealth was compromised in what Health Minister Gan Kim Yong has described as a "very serious and unprecedented, massive cyberattack" -- the largest-ever in Singapore's history, in terms of the number of particulars stolen.

As a result, personal particulars such as the names, NRIC numbers, addresses, gender, race and dates of birth of some 1.5 million patients in SingHealth's database were stolen and copied.

It includes Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's details and potentially a few other ministers.

PM Lee’s personal particulars, as well as information on his outpatient dispensed medicines, were specifically and repeatedly targeted. These were both stolen and copied.

The government will not reveal the perpetrator for "operational security reasons", but has indicated that they know who was responsible for the attack.

COI to be covened

The Ministry of Communications and Information said that Minister-in-Charge of Cybersecurity, S Iswaran, would convene a Committee of Inquiry (COI) with Richard Magnus, a retired Senior District Judge and member of the Public Service Commission, chairing the COI.

Top photo from SingHealth Facebook page.

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