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Servicemen training at eight military sites will soon gain free Wi-Fi access under a pilot program that uses the Wireless @ SGx network, which has thousands of hot spots in Singapore.
In response to inquiries from The Sunday Times, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (Mindef) said that all eight Mindef sites and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will have access to the network in the first half of next year.
The sites are: Air Force Training Command, Central Manpower Base, Changi Naval Base, Camp Hillview, Camp Jurong II, Camp Kranji II, Ministry of Defense building, and Camp Stagmont.
The service will be progressively expanded to other facilities and camps in the coming years after the pilot tests, the spokesperson added.
Wireless @ SGx is the updated version of Wireless @ SG, a free public Wi-Fi program introduced in 2006 that has most of its access points in busy public areas, including street vendor centers, community centers, and libraries.
ST reported that there were more than 20,000 such hot spots in 2018, with minimum browsing speeds of 5 Mbps, although average browsing speeds exceeded 30 Mbps, depending on the density of users in a given area.
The Mindef spokesperson said that by expanding wireless broadband access, connectivity will be improved and digitization initiatives such as Smart Camps and Smart Airbases will be supported.
“Full-time national military and ready-to-operate national military will also be able to access the free wireless network for e-learning and personal management,” he said.
Wireless @ SG will separate from the internal networks of Mindef and SAF for cyber and data security, he added.
Although the Mindef and SAF facilities are equipped with Wi-Fi networks for internal use, most of them are currently not equipped with free access Wi-Fi networks such as Wireless @ SG.
Since 2016, the use of mobile phones, laptops and camera tablets has been allowed in parts of SAF camps, called Zonas Verdes. Camera devices are not allowed in other areas, called Red Zones.
Unauthorized photography and videography remain prohibited in both areas.
Smart Camps, introduced in 2018, aims to improve operational efficiency and enhance the experience of the national military, for example, with a mobile application that allows the military to access information about camps, units and training on the move.
The Smart Airbases concept, also announced in 2018, aims to make the base command post better networked to all airbase systems. It will use more automation and unmanned systems in areas such as aircraft inspection and maintenance.
When asked to comment on this development, Singapore-based senior threat intelligence analyst at cybersecurity firm Group-IB, Shawn Tay, said that all wireless networks carry some cybersecurity risks.
“The main risk lies in the fact that adversaries can try to gain access to the router to initiate man-in-the-middle attacks that can allow hackers to read encrypted data exchanged between users who are connected to the router,” he said.
But the updated Wireless @ SGx network launched in 2014 has increased security, he noted.
This network installs a digital certificate on the user’s device through a certificate call as a security measure.
By early next year, Wireless @ SGx is expected to become the only available network, Tay said.
He said that if the Wireless @ SGx certificate is unique for each user, it is much more secure. This allows you to locate a malicious user and revoke their certificate.
“Also, by having the details of the search, the authorities can quickly identify the suspect, since they already have information such as the phone number.”
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