Wong Wen Si

"Think Big, Start Small, Act Fast and Serve with Heart and Determination. Be agile and adaptive to change. For those starting the journey, pilot and pivot until you get it right!”

Tell us more about Singpass and how it started.

We started Singpass in 2003 to provide a means for citizens to transact online and standardise authentication for access to government services. We introduced SMS 2FA in 2015 to make authentication more secure.

I joined the team in 2018 and saw the birth of the Singpass app in the same year – this was my first milestone with Singpass. Seeing many users forgetting their passwords when trying to log in inspired the team to develop an everyday app that citizens can use to transact. With the pervasiveness of mobile devices and the maturity of technology, we saw opportunities for a soft token authentication that is easier to use and more secure. With a face or fingerprint scan, users can seamlessly access digital services without entering long passwords. Today, more than 4.2 million users are on the Singpass app, which facilitates 90% of all Singpass transactions.

Improving the Singpass app to be more digitally inclusive such as having better accessibility coverage to assist the visually impaired and releasing multi-language support to cater to users who are more proficient in their vernacular languages, such as the elderly, is another proud moment for us.

Find out more about Singpass.

Can you share some moments of inspiration/ challenges? How did you overcome those challenges?

There is no one-size-fits-all product. Building a product for 5 million users from all walks of life and with evolving needs is challenging. We must remain open to user feedback and iteratively enhance the product to ensure it meets the needs of the citizens.

Innovations in user safety are also very important to us, especially with the rise in scams. One of the key measures was to require users to perform an additional facial verification in some situations (e.g., setting up Singpass app) to ensure it is the user performing the transactions and not the scammer authenticating on their behalf. We implemented fraud analytics in 2021 to detect suspected account takeovers and potential fraudulent transactions, and the option to block overseas access to Singpass in 2022.

We do not take our users’ trust in the Singpass system for granted, and work hard to maintain this. We will continue to balance security vs usability in our product design – these decisions do not come easy and some trade-offs in convenience may be required at times, but they are always made with the users’ interests at heart.

Wen Si has over 27 years of ICT experience, with 19 years serving in public service. She started her career working on software development and implementation in the private sector before joining the public sector in 2004. As the Director of Trusted Identity, National Digital Identity (NDI), GovTech, Wen Si leads her Engineering and Ops teams to bring more value to users and make lives better for Singaporeans from all walks of life, in line with our Smart Nation vision. Key products include Singpass, Corppass, Sign with Singpass and Singpass Face Verification. Prior to GovTech, she was with the Media Development Authority (now known as IMDA) heading the Infrastructure and Security team.