Singapore is planning to cut off web access for public servants as a defence against potential cyber attack - a move closely watched by critics who say it marks a retreat for a technologically¹ advanced city-state that has trademarked the term "smart nation".

 

新加坡计划切断公务员的网络连接以防止潜在网络攻击。新加坡是一个科技发达的城市国家， 拥有“智慧国家”之称。批评人士都在密切关注此举，他们认为这对于新加坡来说是一种退步。

 

Some security experts say the policy, due to be in place by May, risks damaging productivity among civil servants and those working at more than four dozen statutory boards, and cutting them off from the people they serve. It may only raise slightly the defensive² walls against cyber attack, they say.

 

Ben Desjardins, director of security solutions at network security firm Radware, called it "one of the more extreme measures I can recall by a large public organisation³ to combat cyber security risks". Stephen Dane, a Hong Kong-based managing director at networking company Cisco Systems, said it was "a most unusual situation" and Ramki Thurimella, chair of the computer science department at the University of Denver, called it both "unprecedented⁴" and "a little excessive".

 

But other cyber security companies said that with the kind of threats governments face today, Singapore had little choice but to restrict internet access.

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