Singapore is working on how to cut off web access for public servants as a defense against potential cyberattacks — a move closely watched by critics who say it marks a retreat for a technologically advanced city-state that has trademarked the term "smart nation."
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 defensive walls against cyberattack, they say.
Ben Desjardins, director of security solutions at the network security firm Radware, called it "one of the more extreme measures I can recall by a large public organization to combat cybersecurity risks."