Daily Briefing: Singapore hit by another massive cyberattack in HIV data leak; Facebook to set up election monitoring centre in Singapore

And here's why e-commerce startup Zilingo may be moving into offline retail.

From Bloomberg:

Records of as many as 14,200 people with HIV and their 2,400 contacts have been “illegally disclosed online”, Singapore’s health ministry said in a statement, marking the second cyberattack the city-state has suffered in a year.

The HIV-registry data was leaked by a U.S. citizen, Mikhy K. Farrera Brochez, who was deported from Singapore after serving jail time for fraud and drug-related offenses, the ministry said. The leaked information included names, test results and contact details of 5,400 Singaporean citizens and 8,800 foreigners.

“Whilst access to the confidential information has been disabled, it is still in the possession of the unauthorised person, and could still be publicly disclosed in the future,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The latest data spill comes less than a year after a cyberattack on SingHealth that had exposed the medical data of about 1.5 million people, including outpatient details of the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Read more here. 

From Reuters:

Facebook said it would set up two new regional operations centres focused on monitoring election-related content in its Dublin and Singapore offices.

“These teams will add a layer of defenses against fake news, hate speech and voter suppression,” the social media network said in a statement. 

Moreover, the firm has also laid out plans for an independent content oversight board with the power to overturn company decisions on user posts. The independent body would be made up of technology and human rights experts free of commercial influences.

Facebook will select inaugural members for three-year terms, but they will independently decide on future membership, Facebook proposed in a draft charter.

Read more here. 

From DealstreetAsia:

It is highly likely that Singapore-headquartered fashion marketplace Zilingo will venture into offline retail in the next 12 months, its co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose said.

“Offline [retail] is a very critical touchpoint for consumers and we are thinking of creative ways to use that opportunity,” Bose said in a fireside chat at DEALSTREETASIA’s Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2019 on Thursday in Jakarta.

“I don’t think the future is fully online; offline will be all about great experiences. You can buy an iPhone online but you are going to Macy’s for the experience. Offline will evolve certainly,” she added.

Read more here.