Singapore is planning to take 100,000 government computers off the Internet in order to boost security, according to several news reports. Government employees who need Internet connectivity to do their jobs will have access to "dedicated Internet-linked terminals," but by default the civil servants won't be able to go online using government-issued devices, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported today.

Government employees have received a memo about the change, which is being phased in over the course of a year. "There are some 100,000 computers in use by the public service and all of them will be affected," The Straits Times wrote.

Singapore government websites were hacked by Anonymous in 2013, apparently in response to censorship regulations imposed on news sites. The latest security measure is reportedly aimed at preventing similar attacks and the spread of malware through e-mail.

"We have started to separate Internet access from the work stations of a selected group of public service officers and will do so for the rest of the public service officers progressively over a one-year period," the Singapore government said, according to the AFP.

Singapore is a highly connected society, with average peak broadband speeds of 135.7Mbps—the fastest in the world, according to Akamai's State of the Internet report. Many government services are available online. That isn't supposed to change, as the government said its employees' work will remain the same.

"The move [to take government computers offline] was greeted with furor on social media," the Associated Press wrote. "Many saw it as an obstacle to efficiency in the wealthy city-state, where citizens have pushed for a better balance of work and life. Government leaders have often spoken of the need to master and harness technology."

For the most part, government employees will be limited to using the Internet on devices they own themselves and that aren't linked to government networks or e-mail systems. "Public servants will be allowed to forward work e-mails to their private accounts, if they need to," The Straits Times wrote.