ITC568 Cloud Privacy and Security: Smart Nation Initiative Analysis

This report examines the cloud privacy and security aspects of Singapore's Smart Nation initiative, focusing on the implications of smart sensors and public Wi-Fi. It analyzes the potential risks associated with data collection, storage, and access within the context of traffic management and citizen services. The report considers the perspectives of both tourists and residents, evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of the smart city infrastructure, particularly concerning data privacy and security vulnerabilities. It discusses the importance of data protection measures, the challenges of managing large datasets, and the potential for data breaches. The report also explores the impact of free public Wi-Fi and the security concerns related to sharing sensitive information. Finally, it addresses the five key domains of the Smart Nation initiative—Home & Environment, Transport, Health, Business Productivity, and Public Sector Services—and the role of cybersecurity in safeguarding citizen data. The report highlights the importance of the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data in the Smart Nation framework and the need for robust security protocols.

Running head: ITC568 CLOUD PRIVACY AND SECURITY
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Name of Student
Name of University
Author’s Note

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Smart nation plan
The smart nation plan was the plan developed by the government of the Singapore in
their country. The main goal to develop the plan to create a better future for the people of the
Singapore through the technology enabled solution. The plan aims to unite the efforts of the
government, companies and the countries people to create such plans which can support the
better and also create huge opportunities for youngsters by using the application of the
information technology, big data and networks (Clancey, 2012). The goal behind the plan is to
set example for other countries that how a Singapore not only becomes a smart city but also has
capability to become a smart nation. The smart nation mission was launched by the Prime
Minister of the Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in the year 2014 on the 24 November. The cyber
security and the information communication in charge of this initiative is Media Development
Authority of Singapore (IMDA) (Sidhu, Ho & Yeoh, 2014). Through smart nation people will
have easy access to the internet thus it will be beneficial for them to share information from
anytime and anywhere through their devices. Various sensors and cameras will be fitted in the
city to collect the data and store them in the cloud (Bhati, Hansen & Chan, 2017). The smart
nation is dependent on two applications big data and the cloud. The big data will store the data
and the cloud will allow easier access to the data.
Task 1
Nowadays in various sectors of the country be it a finance or marketing or banking each
of them are using information technology applications to reduce their work and making it more
efficient which give them easy access to their database from anywhere and anytime. The
technological applications are also helpful in traffic signals. The smart sensors can be installed at

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the traffic signals which will helpful in real time data analysis (Thing, 2014). To make this
project possible Cisco an electronic company has came up with the tools for smart traffic
management for the roads which has capability of the real time data analysis for smooth
management of the traffic. According to the report of the news paper financial times the vehicles
in the world has surpassed over 1.5 billion, which implies that out of every seven persons two of
them owns a car and others own various other vehicles (Sarkar, 2016). The common man can
easily afford a car as nowadays it is necessity not a luxury item for them. The rise in sales of the
car has increased the traffic congestion and accidents. According to the health report by the
world health organization (WHO) there has been 1.25 million deaths on the road due to traffic
negligence (Karadağ, 2013). Thus the report suggests that there need to be management in the
traffic controlling. In order for the better management of the traffic movement the smart traffic
management needs to be enabled.
Implications for privacy of the Singapore Government’s Smart Sensor Network
To implement the smart traffic management across the city, the sensors need to be
installed at the traffic signals and the various records like the peoples name, address, registration
number and his license number needs to be programmed in their databases for the data analysis
(Zanella et al, 2014). The data can be the information of the millions of the people and in order
to manage such a huge amount of data it is the huge challenge for the government to protect the
data from leakage. The government relapses these data to various organizations for the analysis
and reports. Thus it raises the concern who has the legal access to the data and which has not.
What can be the proper framework for both privacy and easy access to the data (Barba et al ,
2012)?

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As a Visitor to Singapore
If I am a tourist and I am visiting to Singapore for few days then it is implied that I don’t
any personal cars in this country therefore I need not to worry about the government plan of
installing the sensors at the traffic lights as I will not be driving cars but it can be helpful if there
are sensors installed in the bus stops as it will be helpful for me in knowing the routes of the
buses and has the information which bus is going to arrive and what is its route (Stojmenovic,
2014). Having information of the arrival timing of the buses it will prevent me from getting lost
in such a huge country. I will also have the access to the internet so I can easily take the help of
the Google map if I get lost and find my way. Secondly I would be very careful in throwing the
garbage on the proper place as the dustbins have sensors and I am under constant surveillance on
the street, if I throw the packets and bottles on the street and litter the area the official will catch
me red handed and fine me for my mistake (Hancke & Hancke Jr, 2012). Thus there are various
advantages as a tourist in such a city which has better traffic management and sensors in dustbin
and bus stop and traffic signals. In this way many tourists like me will keep the city clean and
can easily commute around the country without the fear of getting lost.
Resident of a Singapore
If I am the resident of the Singapore then I can legally buy any vehicle in this country.
The installed sensors at the traffic signals will prevent me from rash driving and breaking the
traffic signals (Longhi et al, 2012). If I do then I will be heavily fined or I can be jailed if any
accidents occur because of me thus the accidents in the city can be avoided and a better traffic
management system can be enabled. Through the help of sensors I can also get to know about the
status of the traffic at various places thus I can choose the way where there is less traffic and can

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easily reach my destination. The sensors on the dustbin will prevent me in throwing the
household garbage (Medvedev et al, 2015); packets and bottles on the street or in the empty
locality which can litter the area if I try to do so the official in that area will catch me red handed
and fine me for my littering the area. Despite of all the disciplines the government is trying to
keep for cleaner and safer country (Boulos & Al-Shorbaji, 2014). I would be worried about
privacy of my data as all the data are stored in the cloud storage there is always a chance of data
breach if the government is not alert and taking measures to protect the data.
Task 2
It is good initiative of the government installs the sensors boxes to act as wifi hotspot in the
country. All the people in the country will have easy access to the internet thus people can easy
exchange the data from anywhere and anytime and it would be totally free as it is provided by
the government.
Being visitor to Singapore
If the government of the Singapore under the smart nation plan agrees to install a series
of the sensor box which can act as the wifi spots across the country. Then I being a tourist in the
Singapore will have a free access to the internet anytime which is beneficial for me .The plan
aims to unite the efforts of the government, companies and the countries people to create such
plans which can support the better and also create huge opportunities for youngsters by using the
application of the information technology, big data and networks (Anagnostopoulos et al, 2015).
If I get lost in the city or having trouble in finding the correct route or the bus I can easily take
the help of the internet for accessing applications like Google map or the website to find out my
location and know the direction where I have to go. Secondly I can easily book the cab if I have

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access to the internet and I can go to that place (Li et al, 2016). Thirdly using the internet I can
easily find the best hotel and restraints in my area and not have to depend on the tour guide
opinions. Thus being a tourist I have various advantages and do not have to depend on the tour
guide as I have access to all the information.
Being resident of Singapore
If I am resident of the country then installing a free wifi across the country is beneficial for
me in various ways. Firstly in the emergency conditions like earthquake or the flood an internet
connection can be crucial for communication as all other modes of communication fails.
Secondly I can use the internet for entertainment purpose when I am travelling around the city
for watching videos or using social media to spend the time (Potts, 2014). Thirdly if I have to
send the data to someone urgently then the free internet can be extremely useful in that case. But
according to me there can be various disadvantages using a free wifi. Firstly a free wifi will be
used by everyone in the public which can slow down the speed as the result everyone may not be
able to use the internet thus it will not be a dependable resource in important tasks (Bulut &
Szymanski, 2013). Secondly if the wifi do not have a strong firewall then hacker can decode the
firewall and steal the private information of the people. Thus these are the two main reasons why
I will not bank upon the free public wifi in exchange of private data.
Having sensitive information in the mobile which need to be shared
As mentioned by me above the free public wifi has various disadvantages firstly a free
wifi will be used by everyone in the public which cam slow down the speed as the result
everyone may not be able to use the internet and the second reason is the weak firewall of the
public wifi (Khan et al, 2016). The public wifi can only be used for the entertainment purpose

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not for the information sharing. The leakage of the information can be passwords or bank
account number or any other private information. Other than the attacks many user can use the
internet to upload the malicious file which can spread the virus in the network which can put my
device at serious and permanent risk. Thus I will be completely refraining from using a public
wifi to share the information (Noor & Hassan, 2013).
Task 3
Singapore's Smart Nation initiative was officially launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsian
Long on 24 November 2014. The smart nation has been implemented in the five domains of the
society which is significant part of the society and the digital technology in the described domain
will be advantageous for the citizens (Strüker & Kerschbaum, 2012). The domains are:
 Home & environment
 Transport
 Health
 Home & environment
 Business productivity
 Public sector services
These five domains are crucial for the development of the society but to secure the data under
smart nation plan is the huge challenge for the government therefore the national cyber security
of the Singapore has entrusted with the job of security. The important component of the smart
nation plan is internet of things and big data. According to me the internet of things is an

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application through which the electronic devices can automatically communicate with each other
through exchanging data which is used in traffic signals (Thing, 2014). The second part is the big
data which is the collection of huge and complicated data from which a certain pattern is
generated which help in studying the behaviors of people towards certain organization. Although
the national cyber security team of the Singapore promises that they are building a resilient
network having a powerful firewall to provide the security to the data but with the cases like
ransom ware virus attack implies that there is still a huge challenge for the government to save
the data (Yan et al, 2012). In the case of the smart nation plan I think that the digital identity can
be assisted to maintain my privacy while using the smart nation plan wifi service. According to
the news article that I went through the Singapore airlines chief David Kohl said in the news
conference that they are preparing master plan for the cyber security of the Singapore from the
year 2013 to 2018. The security of the smart nation plan has been divided into the four pillars.
The plan aims to unite the efforts of the government, companies and the countries people to
create such plans which can support the better and also create huge opportunities for youngsters
by using the application of the information technology, big data and networks (Harvey, 2013).
The first pillar objective is to set up the essential service of the republic which includes the e-
governance, emergency situations, transport, banking, marketing and health care. These are the
crucial sectors of a country development. The second pillar is to monitor and provide the support
to the IT security professionals security is the prime factor which is to be considered in
maintaining the Internet access so to train the IT security professionals so they are prepared to
counter attack all types of the virus. The third pillar is better establishment of a workforce which
is professional in the field of the security. The government will recruit the people from colleges
and schools to make better IT security firewall. The government is also training the student in

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school and colleges so that they have a sufficient knowledge about the IT security. The fourth
pillar is to cooperate with the neighboring countries. The government is working for stronger ties
with the neighboring countries to stop the cyber crime and to stop the cybercrime which are
crossing the national boundaries. The four pillars developed by the country for the security deals
with all aspect from covering the crucial sectors of the society to implement the information
technology to supper tin the IT security professional to training the student to finally forge the
ties with neighboring countries (Kostyk & Herkert, 2012). The government is not leaving any
stone unturned to provide a better security to the data. studying and analyzing the pillars it is
enough insurance for me to share the confedational file taking the digital assistance of the smart
nation plan. Moreover I have not come across a single news article which says that there has
been a major breach of the data under the smart nation plan. Therefore the designed four pillars
are effective enough to prevent any breaches.
Task 4
Although the four pillars are strong enough for the protection of the data but I would still
take some extra steps to provide more security from my side so that I can be assured that my data
is protected. Here are the few of ways I can provide extra security to my data.
The password security
The first security to any data is its password so the first step for better security of the data
is to set up the strong password for the data. In making a strong password I will take the help of
the various password apps like 1password or LastPass these app offer multi-factor authentication
which increase the security of the data. the advantage of using a password manager is that it can

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help in creating strong password but the disadvantages is that if the user forget the password it is
difficult to receive back.
Encryption
The concept of encryption is to convert the data which is in the electronic database into
another form which is known as cipher text. The cipher text encryption is difficult for others to
decode and can only be understand by the authorized user (Yan et al, 2012). The encryption is
the commonly used technique to provide the security to the data the key elements of the
encryption is non repudiation, Authentication and Integrity. The encryption code can make
difficult to decode the password but if the user forgets the password it is difficult to retrieve it
back.
Backing the data regularly
The best and safe method to protect the data from hacking is to back up the data in cloud
there are various software like Google drive and one drive where the user can store can store
documents, photo and video and can access them from anywhere. If the data is hacked or stolen
or the computer is destroyed in any natural disaster then the data is still safe in the backup device
(Strüker & Kerschbaum, 2012). Thus the advantage is that my data is still safe but the
disadvantage is that the data takes long time to get in the backup.
Cloud services
The cloud is the technology where the data is stored in the virtual environment and it can
be accessed from anywhere and anytime. There are various companies which provide the cloud

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services such as (Amazon web service, dreopbox, evernote). All the company prefers to store
their data in the cloud which make it a prime target for hacking.
Use rights management to retain control if data is stolen
If I want to exchange the confidential data from a person and I am unsure of the securities
of that network in that case the I can use the Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) a
tool through which I can control how the user can utilize this data. Let suppose I have sent a file
to a user but I want that he read only the first part not the second part then I can set the right that
he cannot access the second part. Through the software I can also prevent the user to forward the
information to the third party (Noor & Hassan, 2013). Through the software I can also set the
deadline of that information after the deadline the information will be automatically destroyed.
To use the feature if the RMS I just need a server configured to RMS. The RMS provides the
certificate for the usage of its services. Thus the software RMS features are very useful in
protecting the data and I can also its feature to provide extra security to the data.
Therefore from the above described ways of protection of data I conclude that the given steps are
strong enough to provide extra security to the data from my effort even after the reassurance of
the government that they have strong security for its data.

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