Daily Briefing: Recommendations welcomed over SingHealth attack issue; National development minister says seniors could monetise HDB flats

And Singapore-based startup generator Antler enters Europe.

From Channel News Asia:

Public recommendations on how to deal with cybersecurity attacks in the light of the SingHealth hacking are welcome until 31 October, The Committee of Inquiry (COI) into the Cyber Attack on SingHealth said.

Members of the public are invited to submit written representations in three areas - recommending measures to enhance incident response plans, recommending ways to better protect SingHealth’s patient database system against similar attacks, and suggesting measures to reduce the risk of such cybersecurity attacks on public sector IT systems.

"The COI may also seek clarification from authors on their written representations as well as subsequently publish any written representations it receives," the committee noted.

The committee, chaired by retired chief district judge Richard Magnus, had already conducted its first hearing on Aug 28. It was held behind closed doors as the information presented could affect national security.

The coming hearings, between 21 September and 5 October, will be a mix of private and public sessions.

Read more here.

From Property Guru:

Various schemes and programmes could help seniors to monetise on their Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats for their retirement needs, national development minister Lawrence Wong said.

For example, seniors can rent out a spare bedroom or right-size to a smaller flat and apply for the Silver Housing Bonus (SHB). They can also sell part of their lease to HDB under the Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS). We recently announced the extension of LBS to five-room and larger flats so that more Singaporeans can benefit from the scheme.

In line with this, he revealed that the authorities will carry out the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) for the next batch of HDB flats constructed from 1987 to 1997. They will also implement a second round of HIP upgrading when the properties are 60 to 70 years old.

Wong said this in response to Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam Ziming, who asked whether the ministry can clarify what HDB flat owners at different life stages should do to ensure they have a home for life and also an adequate nest egg for retirement, in light of the various new initiatives on public housing.

Read more here.

From E27:

Singapore-based startup generator Antler will expand to Europe, starting with Oslo and Stockholm.

Applications for startups will open starting in January 2019, for the second cohort in Singapore and first in Stockholm.

“We believe the world needs more talented people spending time on building companies that tackle big and small problems around the globe. Our team at Antler has worked closely with each of our founders to design a program that will help them actualise these ideas,” said Jussi Salovaara, co-founder and managing partner of Southeast Asia Antler.

Antler was started in 2017 in Singapore by McKinsey, Google, Spotify, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford alumni who went on to found successful enterprises around the world.

Read more here.