Days after Mr Yuen Kuan Moon took charge as chief executive officer of Singtel Group, the telecommunications giant had an unprecedented challenge: a massive cyber attack involving the personal information of 130,000 customers.

The cyberstrike was effected when files on the Accellion file transfer appliance were accessed illegally. Also stolen was some information on 23 enterprises, including suppliers and corporate customers. There were questions whether the vendor, which flagged some risks in December, had been entirely forthcoming about subsequent threats.