Aaron in the Media

Press, Podcasts & Public Commentary

A trusted expert commentator for national and regional media. Aaron is regularly quoted by Singapore's most trusted newsrooms on cyber incidents, AI policy, and digital resilience.

Aaron in the Media
Quoted.
Cited. On Record.

With deep expertise spanning cybersecurity, AI strategy, and national digital policy, Aaron is regularly quoted by Singapore's most trusted newsrooms — called upon for authoritative perspective on the incidents and issues that shape the region's digital landscape.

As quoted in The Straits Times · Channel NewsAsia · Mothership
The Straits
Times
Concerns Raised Over Ease of Accessing NRIC Numbers from ACRA Portal
ACRA's new Bizfile portal exposed the full NRIC numbers of Singapore citizens — including cabinet ministers — to public search without login. The incident triggered a national reckoning over digital identity infrastructure, data protection policy, and government accountability in the digital age.
"If this blunder by the Government has in some way enabled cyber criminals, then I think that while the government agencies have invested so much in scam prevention, we have inadvertently shot ourselves in the foot and moved steps backwards."
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CNA
Podcast
What Does Unmasking NRIC Numbers Mean for Your Privacy and Security?
Featured on Channel NewsAsia's deep-dive podcast alongside legal experts from Rajah & Tann Singapore, examining the privacy and security implications of Singapore's NRIC unmasking policy — and what individuals and organisations must now do to protect themselves.
"The unmasking makes Singaporeans extremely vulnerable to scammers who use NRIC numbers to secure the trust of victims — this is the kind of data that enables highly targeted, convincing attacks."
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The Straits
Times
Some Telco Technical Data May Open More Doors for Cyber Attackers
Following the revelation that state-sponsored group UNC3886 had exfiltrated network data from Singapore's four major telcos, Aaron was called upon to explain the strategic risk of stolen infrastructure blueprints — and why technical data is often more dangerous than personal data in the wrong hands.
"Such technical data is like the blueprints and guard schedules of a building. A thief with it knows exactly where to enter, which paths avoid cameras, and how to reach restricted rooms — including backdoors into neighbouring buildings."
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The Straits
Times
Singtel Outage: Experts Call for Review of Emergency Hotline Contingency Plans
A major Singtel landline outage in October 2024 severed access to police and SCDF emergency lines 999 and 995 for hours. Cybersecurity experts questioned why critical public safety infrastructure lacked immediate failover, and called for a systemic review of contingency planning across operators.
"It appears that emergency hotline operators did not have backup services ready for immediate switchover — given the hours-long disruption, the gap in resilience planning is difficult to overlook."
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The Straits
Times
Singtel Hit by Second Disruption a Day After Eight-Hour Outage
When Singtel suffered a second major outage within 24 hours — disrupting payments, ride-hailing, and essential services across Singapore — Aaron provided expert perspective on why post-incident recovery actions can carry their own risks, and what repeated failures signal about infrastructure resilience.
"Engineers responding to a major outage often restart systems, reroute traffic, or implement quick fixes — and such remedial actions may themselves shift loads in ways that trigger secondary disruptions."
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The Straits
Times
Telcos, Banks, Chat Apps Among Online Services to Experience Temporary Spike in Disruptions
A concurrent spike in disruptions across Singapore's digital infrastructure — spanning telcos, banks, and messaging platforms — raised concerns about systemic interdependencies in the nation's online services and what simultaneous failures mean for digital resilience.
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Mothership
Hacker Obtains OTP via Help Chat, Activates Circles.Life User's eSIM & Logs Into E-commerce Accounts
A social engineering attack on Circles.Life's customer service channel allowed a bad actor to take over a victim's eSIM and access her e-commerce accounts — without exploiting any technical vulnerability. Aaron explained why the incident exposed a fundamental process gap, not a technology one.
"This is more of a process issue than a vulnerability. OTPs should never be provided over chat — it simply defeats the purpose of having an OTP. The bar for verification must be higher than what a social engineer can talk their way past."
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8world
Feature
From Obesity Diagnosis to Full Marathon: A Personal Journey
A personal feature by 8world on Aaron's journey from being overweight and clinically diagnosed with obesity, to lining up at the start of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. A story of discipline, resilience, and the belief that transformation — personal or organisational — is always possible with the right mindset.
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