Hackers attack Malaysian government websites
Hackers have attacked Malaysian government websites, authorities said
Thursday, following a threat by the "Anonymous" activist group which
accused Malaysia of censoring the Internet.
Fifty-one government websites were targeted, causing disruptions to
at least 41 of them, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC) said in a statement.
It said the attacks on websites with the .gov.my domain started
shortly before midnight Wednesday and lasted several hours, but appeared
to have caused little damage. "The Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission confirms that there were indeed attempts to hack
several websites," it said. "However, we do not expect the overall
recovery to these websites to take long as most websites have already
recovered from the attack," it added.
The commission said it would work with enforcement agencies, security
experts and service providers to keep the situation in check. Malaysian
authorities had Wednesday braced themselves for cyber attacks after
Internet activists Anonymous warned on a website that they would target
the government portal www.Malaysia.gov.my.
The website was still down on Thursday. MCMC did not specify which
websites were hacked, only saying its own site was targeted but that the
hacking attempt was unsuccessful.
Anonymous sabotaged Turkish sites last week to protest against
Internet censorship. Its Malaysia attack plan threat followed an order
by the MCMC to Internet service providers last week to block 10 file and
video-sharing websites that it said violate copyright laws. The hackers
explained the rationale for the attack in a YouTube clip, claiming that
Malaysia's censorship was an erosion of human rights.
Malaysia's media operate under strict censorship laws but websites
have remained relatively free - despite occasional raids, bans and
government criticism - due to an official pledge not to censor the
Internet. AFP |