A 42-year-old external IT vendor for the State Courts was jailed for 28 weeks on Monday (Sept 28) after making an unauthorised modification to a government-managed laptop that allowed a device traced to India to connect remotely, endangering more than 18,000 files.
Janarthanan Tamil Kovan, an Indian national, pleaded guilty to one count each of misusing a computer system and an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
He had downloaded and installed unauthorised remote-access software on the laptop while trying to use it to take a Certified Information Security Manager examination after his personal laptop developed a faulty screen.
The laptop contained 18,016 State Courts files, including login credentials, secret keys and network architecture details relating to the courts' systems, and was protected by GovTech's Security Suite for Engineering Endpoint Devices (SEED).
When the laptop failed the examination's security checks on Aug 4, 2025, Janarthanan sought help from a man identified as "Hari Balan", who instructed him to download UltraViewer, a remote desktop application that would enable another user to remotely access and control the device.
A connection was established with another device whose IP address was traced to India, during which several files were transferred onto the laptop.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo said the files did not contain sensitive case-specific information but could potentially be used to gain unauthorised access to systems containing confidential information, including case information and judges' notes.
Investigations later found that no data had been exfiltrated during the remote connection.
After GovTech's SEED team detected the files, Janarthanan falsely denied running UltraViewer. He later deleted files from the laptop, cleared its browsing history and removed the UltraViewer application folder before handing the device over to the Government IT Security Incident Response team.
He was arrested in June 2026.
Following the incident, the State Courts' Innovation, Technology and Transformation Division changed all implicated security keys, implemented password changes and key rotations, and reviewed system and traffic logs for anomalies, unauthorised access or data exfiltration.
The Singapore Courts said it took immediate steps to secure its systems and worked with the relevant authorities.
It added that no court documents were lost and no unauthorised access to its documents or systems was detected.
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