COI Report – Part VII
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425 48 RECOMMENDATION #13: AN INTERNET ACCESS STRATEGY THAT MINIMISES EXPOSURE TO EXTERNAL THREATS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED #PREVENTION #VIGILANCE
1130. Temporary Internet Surfing Separation (
“ISS”) was implemented in
SingHealth from 20 July 2018, and in the other two clusters from 22 July 2018.
In this section, we will consider the expert opinions on (a) whether ISS should be lifted, and if sob) what are the alternatives to ISS, and (c) whether additional mitigating controls are required.
1131. The appropriate internet access strategy is an issue of risk management. It requires
consideration of resources, demands, infrastructure constraints, and operational imperatives. It is thus a decision that should be undertaken by the healthcare sector, weighing the full range of considerations. MOH has not come to an official position on the appropriate
internet access strategy, and has formed a horizontal committee to look into this issue, and weigh the balance between cybersecurity risks,
patient safety, and cost.
1132. While this is an issue for the healthcare sector’s ultimate decision, there are guiding principles that the healthcare sector should apply in determining its internet access strategy. First and foremost, we caution that the operational need for internet usage should not be conflated with the need
for internet usage on the same device which has access to internal networks and databases containing confidential information (including the EMR). If the internet can be accessed on a separate device and/or
via separate networks, the costs or operational drawbacks from an efficiency perspective of doing so must be balanced against the security gains. Second, while we accept that patient safety must be the predominant concern for the healthcare sector, it would be apposite for the healthcare sector to also bear in mind that inasmuch
as patient safety relates to treatment, it also entails
protection of patients confidential and sensitive medical information and records. As recognised by the Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong, patient wellbeing “
includes safeguarding the confidentiality of patient 
