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For one business owner, it began like any other morning – until he switched on his computer in the office.
Sitting at his desk, he realised that all his systems had been breached and years’ worth of data were gone.
The hacker demanded a million-dollar ransom to restore the data. At a loss, the owner called the Police and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Boo Jon You went down to investigate.
“The owner asked all his staff to leave because he was extremely emotional,” he shared. “He ripped out all the internet cables to disconnect the servers because he thought the criminal was still trying to inflict damage.”
Ransomware attacks like these are what ASP Boo tackles in his job as a Senior Investigation Officer (IO) with the Cybercrime Investigation Branch (CIB). The CIB is part of the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) newly established Cyber Command.
“Even though cybercrime sounds like it’s just somebody behind a keyboard, the impact they have is extremely real,” ASP Boo said.
Together with his colleague, Senior IO Chloe Chua, they investigate serious cybercrimes such as data breaches and cryptocurrency-related offences.
They also collaborate with local agencies, overseas law enforcement agencies and private sector partners to pursue leads and support enforcement action against transnational cybercrime syndicates.
Around the world, there has been a surge in cryptocurrency crimes. ASP Boo shared that crypto is now the main way criminal proceeds are laundered, because of how fast, anonymous, cheap and accessible it is.
Finding Their Calling
What brought ASP Boo and Chloe to the Cyber Command?
The pair may be working together now but they took vastly different paths to land the same role.
Chloe specialises in cyber threat intelligence. She was seconded from the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), where she analysed threat actors and their attack methods, gaining a better understanding of the cyber threat landscape.
Before that, she studied cybersecurity and digital forensics at polytechnic, but it was her internship experience that deepened her interest in the field.
“Just two weeks after I joined, the company got into a cyberattack,” she recalled, “In the end, I was part of the recovery process and that made me realise how severe ransomware is.”
ASP Boo joined the SPF in 2017 and was motivated to join the CIB after witnessing a case where online data exposure caused extreme harm.
In that case, a victim was threatened by a loan shark who mentioned private details that no outsider could have known. He was so afraid that he resorted to sleeping outside his house to keep watch over his family.
ASP Boo surmised that the criminal must have found illicit ways to obtain information that he shouldn’t have had access to, such as the content of email threads.
“That brought me down the path of realising that there’s an underground market of hackers where people can buy and sell information ranging from emails, telephone numbers and other personal identifiers,” he said.
From then on, he read more about cybercrime – and having witnessed its damaging impact first-hand, he feels driven to seek justice for victims by helping to bring the criminals to court.
Hunting Faceless Criminals
The CIB focuses on cyber-dependent crimes targeting computer systems, such as ransomware, cryptocurrency heists and account compromises.
Victims can range from organisations affected by company-wide ransomware or data breaches to individuals whose accounts have been compromised or crypto assets stolen.
“It’s very important that victims lodge the report fast so that we can prevent the money from leaving Singapore’s jurisdiction,” Chloe said.
Within a day of a report being lodged, IOs have to find out where and how the victim’s cryptocurrency wallet is stored, determine who has access to it and trace the flow of funds.
“We need to figure out who exactly attacked the victims. Cybercriminals are often associated with a gang name,” ASP Boo said.
“From there, we decipher their motives and the tactics they used. This may take quite a while.”
Officers also partner with the CSA’s digital forensics experts to identify leads and extract digital evidence at the scene. They then analyse the evidence, follow up on leads and collaborate with overseas law enforcement agencies to understand the wider impact of the crime and pool resources to “fight the common enemy”.
“Despite the word ‘cyber’, that component usually ends after the analysis. Everything after that is more human,” ASP Boo said.
Investigations are a long game. Chloe said that the financial trails in most cases lead overseas, which can be demoralising for investigators and leave them wondering if they’ll ever put a face to the crime.
“It’s only by persevering for three to seven years that you’ll finally see the light of day,” she added.
Beyond investigations, Chloe also analyses the cyber threat landscape in Asia by monitoring cases affecting neighbouring countries. She keeps abreast of new and evolving threats, cybercrime trends and the tools used to counter them.
“It Can be Costly When You Don’t Check”
With criminals becoming increasingly adept at their craft, the Police have to constantly upskill to keep up with technological advances.
The SPF sends investigators – including ASP Boo and Chloe – for training and provides opportunities for them to learn from industry experts around the globe. This gives them an edge in tackling cybercrime.
But keeping Singapore safe from cybercrime isn’t the Police’s responsibility alone. To avoid falling victim, the duo advises the public never to be complacent about their cyber hygiene.
This means regularly updating systems, using strong passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication.
“It’s not a one-time effort but an ongoing commitment,” said Chloe. “Cyber threats are constantly evolving and what may seem like sufficient protection today may not be enough tomorrow.”
ASP Boo added that Singaporeans should always remain sceptical when viewing any content online. “It can be costly when you don’t check,” he said, “Checking is free. If you suspect that something suspicious has happened, don’t keep quiet and raise it to your organisation’s IT staff.”
As they continue to fight cybercrime, ASP Boo hopes to strengthen Singapore’s standing as a trusted international partner in cybercrime investigations, while building the SPF’s capabilities and ensuring that it has the right people for the job.
With so many factors outside the Police’s control in investigations, especially when overseas components are involved, he finds immense satisfaction when all the pieces fall into place and a case is closed.
“The feeling is indescribable when we see the bad guy put in handcuffs,” he said.
