SINGAPORE - Fresh SingPass problems have surfaced after initial
teething issues brought about by "heavy traffic" to the new
authentication system were resolved on Monday.
The enhanced SingPass was just rolled out on Sunday to better
protect some 100 e-services - such as those which deal with
personal, financial or health data - from 60 government
agencies.
But some users who had opted to use its new security feature - a
one-time password (OTP) generated randomly on a calculator-like
token or delivered by SMS - in addition to the usual SingPass and
user name were left high and dry.
As early as 8am on Wednesday morning, some users were complaining
about not being able to link their token to the enhanced SingPass
system on the latter's website.
Others who had linked their phone number and token to the enhanced
SingPass system complained they were locked out of e-government
transactions on Tuesday night.
The problem was due to not being able to receive the OTP via SMS
despite making numberous requests for it to be sent.
Frustrated, some users switched to using the token, but this
message popped up on their computer screens after three failed
attempts with the token-generated OTP: "You have entered an
incorrect/expired one-time password. Please try again."
On Monday, applicants for the new SingPass were unable to sign up
for their enhanced accounts. Users who tried to access the SingPass
website between 10am and noon were unable to do so. A message on
the website said that maintenance was in progress.