SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education ( MOE ) has taken legal action against “relevant contractors” following a Mobile Guardian cyberattack that affected 13, 000 users from 26 secondary schools.
According to Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing, about one in six of the affected users lost some data as a result of the cybersecurity breach the device management app experienced, according to a statement made in parliament on Tuesday ( Sep 10 ).
Less than 5 % of their data were unable to be recovered because their products had not been back up prior to the August 4 breach, he continued.
Members of Parliament ( MPs ) posed questions to Mr. Chan about the support provided to students and what the MOE has done to stop similar incidents from occurring.
The day after the attack, all tablets and Chromebooks were made smart Guardians.
According to MOE, it mandates that its IT services providers keep its systems and data secure.
According to the ministry’s forensic investigations into the incident with GovTech and the  , Cyber Security Agency of Singapore ( CSA ), there was a new vulnerability in the Mobile Guardian’s system that could allow a person to carry out an attack.
” This is a timely warning that cyber challenges can develop quickly”, he said.
No security test can be completely comprehensive, but MOE recommends that its companies regularly check and improve their techniques ‘ security posture.
The government is presently looking into alternatives to mobile device management apps and has decided to stop using Mobile Guardian on all personal learning tools.  ,
It stated that it would work toward releasing the new game by January of next year.
On Monday, CNA reported that MOE has terminated its agreement with Mobile Guardian , and was considering other options.  ,
Prior to the Aug 4 affair, Mobile Guardian experienced a data breach in April as a result of weak password management practices. A problem was also discovered in July as a result of human problem.