SINGAPORE — More than 80 per cent of the civil service or about 108,000 civil servants will be able to access the internet securely from their work laptops from Nov 2. 

Under the Secure Internet Surfing system, content is loaded into isolated containers and unsafe content will be filtered out to prevent a data breach or malware infection, said the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) in a release on Thursday (Oct 15). 

Since May 2017, civil servants have not been allowed to access the internet via their work computers and can only do so at designated terminals. 

This rule was implemented across all public healthcare institutions about a year later, after healthcare group SingHealth fell victim to a major cyberattack. 

At the time, there was no appropriate solution that allowed civil servants to access the internet securely, said SNDGG. 

From November, civil servants will be able to do the following with the new system: 

• Surf the web for information and multimedia content

• Open hyperlinks from Microsoft Outlook and documents

• Browse and make text-based posts on social media

• Extract information and download content from the Internet

• Upload files onto government-approved websites

Web-based video conferencing will however not be supported under this system and civil servants who handle classified documents will continue to use a separate device to access the internet. 

Files can also only be uploaded onto approved websites to reduce the risk of data being compromised. 

SNDGG added that as the public sector digitalises, protecting data remains a priority. 

“All public sector data protection rules will apply to the data held by the Public Service, including abiding by the recommendations of the Public Sector Data Security Review Committee,” it said. 

These recommendations include improving data protection, enhancing detection of and response to data incidents, nurturing a culture of using data securely, increasing accountability, and creating a sustainable and resilient data security regime.