Breaches of Singpass Facial Verification and Safeguards

Fourteenth Parliament of Singapore – Second Session for the Sitting on 9 January 2024

Question

Ms Hazel Poa asked the Prime Minister (a) whether any attempts to breach Singpass facial verification have been detected since it was launched; and (b) what safeguards and measures have been taken to ensure that Singpass facial verification cannot be breached by deepfakes or other clones generated by artificial intelligence.

Answer

Written answer by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity (for the Prime Minister)

Since the launch of facial verification on Singpass, the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) has not detected breaches. Our agencies continuously monitor, test and work on improvements. It is best we maintain operational security over the technical details.