Singapore to get new cybersecurity law as stiffer regulation is also applied to online content

The new legislation will give the government the power to audit the cybersecurity measures implemented by organisations operating in certain sectors of the economy, according to a report by Straits Times published on the Singapore government's website. Further detail on the scope of the proposals has yet to be released.

According to the report, the new cybersecurity framework will also set out the powers that the Singapore government will have at their disposal should a major cyber attack hit the country.

Minister for communications and information Yaacob Ibrahim has also confirmed that changes will be made to Singapore films and broadcasting laws to govern video content that is available online more closely.

Content ratings will apply to websites from where video content can be streamed under the updated laws, according to the report.

Separately, the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore late last year announced formal amendments to broadcasting regulations aimed at raising public awareness of internet parental control services and to make it easier for parents to access such tools. The obligations apply to internet access service providers operating in Singapore.

Under the new regulations, those internet service providers (ISPs) must inform any prospective new customer of the availability of 'specified content filter services' before connecting them to the internet. A similar disclosure obligation applies to renewing customers too.

The ISPs must also ask prospective new customers or renewing customers whether they wish to subscribe to such content filtering services. They must "make reasonable attempts to obtain" an answer to that question within 14 days of that customer's application for access to the internet.

'Specified content filter services' is defined as "an arrangement that gives a relevant subscriber a means of preventing access by an end-user to, at the minimum, content in any programme through the World Wide Web that contains sexually explicit material or material that contains violence and gore, through an Internet Access Service Provider’s network or gateway".

The ISPs must "offer to provide that relevant subscriber specified content filter services" when a request for such services is made by that customer, and they must provide "reasonable technical support and instructional guides on the use of specified content filter services" for the duration of a relevant subscriber’s subscription to those services.

The ISPs must provide the filtering services on a free-of-charge trial basis if the customer does not agree to pay for the services.