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The government is aware that automated bots may be used to secure limited goods, services or slots on various websites, including online reservation systems that are linked to the government, Josephine Teo said in a written reply in Parliament on Mar. 21.

Teo, the Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, was responding to questions posed by Workers' Party Member of Parliament Jamus Lim about whether the government tracks the abuse of government-linked online reservation systems such as for SportsSG facilities where slots are subsequently resold.

Lim also asked whether the government has evaluated its the efficacy of its safeguards against such practices.

Teo: Government is aware that bots are being used to resell slots for profit

Teo, who is also Minister for Communications and Information, further noted that some "errant users" have gone further by either using bots or encouraging others to lend their accounts to them, so that they can resell slots for profit.

In total, since 2021, over 600 bookings have been cancelled for on-selling activities and about 200 ActiveSG accounts have been suspended for suspected bot usage, Teo added.

She also highlighted that since early 2021, SportsSG has stepped up its on-site enforcement measures.

These include requiring the person who booked to be present and be part of the playing party, or risk having the booking cancelled, and carrying out periodic checks on suspicious booking patterns in the ActiveSG system and on-selling activities across various social media platforms.

Should suspicious booking patterns be found, the accounts will be suspended for a period of three months for the first time and 12 months for repeat violations, Teo elaborated.

Technical measures have also been put in place

In addition, technical measures have also been put in place by government agencies, Teo said.

This includes Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA), introduction of delays between login attempts, and web application firewalls with bot control features to detect and prevent automated bots from launching actions on websites.

She added:

"As technology evolves, bots will become more sophisticated and require newer counter-measures. These may come at a cost to user experience, including to persons with disabilities or who have intermittent access to the internet.

The government must strike a balance between introducing frictions to protect against abuse by some, and usability for the vast majority."

Top photo via myactivesg.com