GE2025: CSA urges vigilance against scams and misinformation during election period

SINGAPORE: The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) on Tuesday (Apr 15) cautioned voters on the need for vigilance against cyber threats amid the upcoming General Election.

Singapore’s parliament was dissolved on Tuesday afternoon, with voters heading to the polls on May 3.

In an advisory issued after the announcement of Polling Day, the CSA noted that election campaigning in Singapore has shifted to a digital space or transformed into a hybrid format.

Candidates can expand their reach by using social media platforms to provide updates and hold virtual rallies, make use of fundraising websites, or use web-conferencing tools to host virtual question-and-answer sessions, said CSA.

“However, this shift to the digital space provides cyber threat actors with more opportunities to attack unsuspecting voters,” it added.

“Threat actors may take advantage of election fervour and incorporate election-based themes in their attacks to increase their chances of success.”

CSA outlined several potential cyber threats, and what measures can be taken to mitigate the risk of falling for them.

PHISHING

Phishing, a type of cyberattack where the attacker impersonates a trustworthy entity to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information or performing actions for malicious purposes, can take many forms during the upcoming hustings, CSA said.

“Threat actors may compromise the social media accounts of election candidates and political parties or create fake social media accounts to launch phishing attacks.

“Phishing attacks can also come as fraudulent emails, text messages, and phone calls impersonating election candidates or political parties,” said CSA.

This way, threat actors can spread false or misleading information to manipulate voter behaviour or influence opinions.

Malicious actors can also create websites that mimic the content of official campaign websites to carry out social engineering attacks.

Financially motivated threat actors may also impersonate election candidates or political parties to seek donations from members of public.

In recent years, AI has been used to craft highly personalised and convincing phishing emails, messages or voice clones, increasing the likelihood of a successful attack. It can also be used to analyse the victim’s background to create a more convincing facade that aligns with the victim’s political ideologies, leaving them open to being scammed, CSA said.

“Unsuspecting victims may inadvertently provide sensitive information like passwords and banking credentials or perform financial transactions thinking that they are supporting a legitimate cause.”

CSA noted that the context of General Elections has been used in the past to conduct scams and urged vigilance against such scams.