WP chair Sylvia Lim's phone not hacked by Singapore state agencies: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Lim's phone had not been hacked by Singapore state agencies, after the Workers' Party chair told Parliament on Friday (Feb 18) that she got a notification her phone could have been hacked by "state sponsored attackers".

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister, said: “I can tell Ms Lim that her phone has not been hacked by Singapore state agencies."

He said he had made a check after Ms Lim raised the issue in Parliament earlier on Friday.

“I speak for agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and I had a quick check with SID (Security and Intelligence Division).” 

Earlier on Friday, Ms Lim had said in a supplementary question in Parliament to Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan that she had received a “threat warning” from tech company Apple “informing me that it could be that my iPhone is being the subject of hacking by state sponsored attackers”. 

Ms Lim added that Apple had stated the threat was likely related to "who I am individually or what I do”.

She asked Mr Tan if he could confirm if she should “have absolutely no concerns that the Singapore Government agencies are trying to hack into my phone”. 

Mr Tan responded to this by telling Ms Lim to make a police report should she have any concerns with what happened to her iPhone. 

Mr Shanmugam added in his response that the “proper way” to address such a threat would be to report it to the authorities. 

“The proper way to do it, if you are serious about finding out whether your phone has been hacked, and by whom, is to come to the Ministry of Home Affairs (and) we will do a thorough investigation,” said Mr Shanmugam. 

“If you raise it in Parliament, then we must assume the intention is to publicise the fact, rather than actually get to the bottom of it. And it's obvious then, why it's made public.”

He also asked Ms Lim to provide evidence of her phone being hacked. 

As of Friday afternoon, Ms Lim had not responded to Mr Shanmugam's comment about publicity, or his request for proof of the phone being hacked.

TODAY has sought comment from Ms Lim, including whether she intends to file a police report on the matter.

Mr Shanmugam said: “We would like to see the precise notification from Apple. Is it a general notification that they sent to a number of people, or was it a specific notification? 

“If it’s a specific notification, to Ms Lim’s phone, the Ministry of Home Affairs will be very interested, because… this is something we are extremely concerned about. She is a Member of Parliament… we would like to get to the bottom of it, of who is trying to get into her phone.” 

He added that all MPs are “potential targets”.

“MPs are high value targets for foreign agencies, as our own experience and the experiences of other countries have shown,” he said. 

“It is the duty of our security agencies to be very aware of whether MPs or ministers or senior civil servants or those around them or their families are being approached or suborned, and it is in the interest of Singapore and the security of Singapore that state agencies are on top of their game.”

Mr Shanmugam also said that he “does not intend to confirm or deny” when such questions are asked in future. 

“But I can say specific to the question asked by Ms Lim, I think in the context of the question having been asked, I decided that we will answer this question.”