Singapore’s police have ordered Apple and Google to stop the spoofing of government agencies on their messaging platforms, reports Reuters.
Online spoofing is a cyberattack where a scammer disguises their identity or communication data as a trusted source to deceive victims. The goal is to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, installing malware, or transferring money by exploiting their trust in familiar entities like banks, government agencies, or even colleagues.
The home affairs ministry made the order under the nation’s Online Criminal Harms Act. It came after the police observed scams on Apple’s iMessage and Google Messages purporting to be from companies such as the local postal service SingPost, per Reuters.
“Members of the public may assume that messages they receive from accounts claiming to be from ‘gov.sg’ on iMessage or Google Messages are legitimate because messages sent through iMessage and Google Messages appear alongside and are not easily distinguishable from SMSes,” the police said.
Under the order, Google and Apple will need to prevent accounts and group chats from displaying names which spoof “gov.sg” and other Singapore government agencies, or filter such messages out.
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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
