[NEW UPDATES] 'Anonymous' Threatens Singapore Government And The Philippines

Two brothers on Friday were charged in Singapore's courts for separate cyber crimes, one involving the defacement of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) website and the other for hacking into a local actor's email and social media accounts.

Mohammad Azhar Bin Tahir, 27, was slapped with 10 charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act — the first for running a script on the PMO site's search function on 7 November at about 4pm.

He was also accused of two counts of hacking into and changing the password of a wireless Internet network belonging to one Nadia Binte Ali Khan on 5 and 7 November, also changing its password sometime that month, according to court documents.

freedistrict.com

In relation to "Ah Boys To Men" star Ridhwan Azman's email and social media accounts, Mohammad Azhar was allegedly responsible for changing passwords on the former's Facebook fan page, as well as his Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, YouTube and Instagram accounts on 5 and 7 November.

His younger brother, Mohammad Asyiq Bin Tahir, was read six charges. One was for unauthorised access of Nadia's wireless network on 5 November, and others were for crimes relating to the compromise of Ridhwan's YouTube account (uploading the "response" video purportedly from the "Anonymous" group of hackers), Hotmail, Gmail and Blogspot accounts.

channelnewsasia.com

Police investigation into the two brothers' alleged cyber crimes is the latest in a string of arrests of Singaporeans believed to be responsible for a string of local site hacking incidents.

The man who allegedly goes by the moniker "The Messiah" and accused of compromising a town council's website faces an additional charge of drug consumption. This brings the total number of drug consumption charges against James Raj Arokiasamy to four.

The 35-year-old is accused of using drugs between May 2011 and November 2013. He also allegedly accessed the content management system of the Ang Mo Kio Town Council website and modified its contents without authorisation.

channelnewsasia.com

Besides allegedly adding an image of a Guy Fawkes mask to the website on October 28, 2013, James Raj is also said to have added texts and banners to the town council's website. He is accused of doing so at about 1.35pm from an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

malaysiasun.com

During the court session on Tuesday afternoon, the prosecution said investigations into potential charges are ongoing and objected to bail being set for the accused. In its written submissions, the prosecution said James Raj is a flight risk, given that he had previously absconded whilst on police bail for the 2011 drug offences.

It added that the five charges are "all non-bailable offences". The defence is expected to make submissions on the matter of bail on Wednesday, December 4.

channelnewsasia.com

A man in Singapore named James Raj Arokiasamy was charged with defacing a town council website last month by posting an image of a Guy Fawkes mask, the symbol of the hacker group Anonymous. He was charged with causing unauthorized modifications of contents on a website by posting the image and signing off as The Messiah.

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James is accused of doing so from Dorchester Apartment at Jalan Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 28 at about 1.35pm.

channelnewsasia.com

Today reported that Raj had told the court that he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is currently taking medication, claims to be suicidal, suffering from hallucinations and seeing things flashing randomly. The report added that he is being remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for a psychiatric evaluation.

therealsingapore.com

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's official website was hacked Thursday by apparent members of activist group Anonymous after he vowed to hunt down anyone who attacks the city-state's technological network.

"It's great to be Singaporean today," read a mocking headline in a section of www.pmo.gov.sg next to the group's trademark Guy Fawkes mask, a symbol of anti-establishment defiance worldwide.

business-standard.com

Next to it was another image saying: "PM Lee warns hackers: We will track you down -- even if you think you're 'anonymous'".
Another message read: "ANONYMOUS SG WAS HERE BIATCH", using a pejorative in online youth slang.

The defaced section was quickly taken offline after the hacking incident surfaced in a posting on Facebook. The rest of the site was working normally.
In a statement issued early Friday, the government's Infocomm Development Authority said it was investigating the incident.

techgoondu.com

Hackers claiming to be from the notorious Anonymous collective have stepped up attacks across south-east Asia, infiltrating websites in Singapore and the Philippines.

brisbanetimes.com.au

Messages were posted on Sunday on the web-pages of at least five government agencies in the Philippines, urging the public to join a mass protest against corruption.

"To the corrupt – fear us," the message warned.

businessweek.com

Anonymous Philippines said it infiltrated 115 government websites before a demonstration on Tuesday outside congress in Quezon City as part of a global Million Mask March, coinciding with Guy Fawkes Day in UK. The mask of Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British Parliament in the 17th century, has become a symbol of the movement.

livemint.com

While the Singapore's government has been put on heightened alert for cyber attacks after people claiming to be from international hacking collective Anonymous defaced several web sites in the city-state and threatened further action.

therealsingapore.com

A Philippine hacker group claiming ties with the hacktivist collective Anonymous defaced early Sunday several government websites, and called on the public to support a protest at the Batasang Pambansa on November 5.

The Anonymous Collective has hacked into several Philippines government websites and left a promotional message for the Million Mask March on November 5th. The landing pages of the websites were replaced by a video and a message to the people of the Philippines to join in the march.

therealsingapore.com

More than a dozen Singapore government have been unaccessible as of 3pm today (2 November 2013), according to a tip-off received by Tech in Asia. Some reports, however, said that the outage occurred as early as 1.30pm. It was unclear why these sites were brought down, but the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) tweeted at 4.19pm that ”government websites are under planned maintenance and will be back ASAP.”

It’s also unclear why the “maintenance” is held in the afternoon as opposed to off-peak hours like the middle of the night. This greatly inconveniences users who could be using the weekend afternoons to renew their passports on the ICA website.

Over the last few weeks several websites have been defaced by hacker The Messiah with several messages left, but this is the first time that so many government websites have been inaccessible at the same time.

therealsingapore.com

At 6pm, 2 November 2013: THE MESSIAH SAID THAT THEY ARE NOT THE HACKERS responsible for bringing down the government websites in Singapore. He suggested that there are many other international anon hackers that are gaining interest in the Singapore government.

therealsingapore.com

A video purportedly by computer hacker group Anonymous has threatened the Singapore Government with an “aggressive cyber intrusion” if it did not remove its Internet licensing framework.

therealsingapore.com

Cyber security experts The New Paper said it was a very serious matter. Such videos proclaiming war against the Government actually contravene the penal code, and the possible penalty is death, said one lawyer.

therealsingapore.com

When a hacker named “The Messiah” loudly proclaimed his intention to launch a cyber attack against the Government, it is an attack on all of us, writes TNP deputy editor Melvin Singh in a commentary. A cyber attack on the Singapore Government infrastructure is an attack on our way of life.

therealsingapore.com

It is time for the silent majority online who do little when netizens break laws to stand up against online criminality. If you mollycoddle online criminality, people like “The Messiah” will grow bolder and more defiant. Those who hack must get whacked.

therealsingapore.com

Singaporean daily The Straits Times has had its online news portal hacked by online activist Messiah. The hacker claims to be from Anonymous, a group famous for its hacktivism protests and has left a message in a blog post protesting against an earlier article written by a journalist of the publication and the owner of the blog, Irene Tham.

theregister.co.uk

The blog post, as well as the article in question, has since been taken down.

Messiah is claiming that Tham's article on an earlier YouTube video posted by the group had distorted their words and intentions by changing the original message of the video from "war against the Singapore Government" to "war against Singapore".

cnet.com

The hacker also set a time limit of 48 hours for Tham to apologize or resign and failure to do so would place Singapore Press Holdings, the parent company of The Straits Times, in a "to do" list with a threat of more severe hacks.

businessweek.com

In a shockingly daring move, someone claiming to be part of the international hacker group Anonymous is threatening to disrupt key infrastructure in Singapore to protest against the government's new online media licensing rules.

straitstimes.com

In the YouTube video posted on 29 October, the group – using an image of Guy Fawkes in a mask — cautions the government not to underestimate them, saying their actions will be like "dipping yourselves in a pool of piranhas".

"We demand you reconsider the regulations of your framework or we will be forced to go to war with you," the group adds.

therealsingapore.com

It further adds: 'For every single time you deprive a citizen his right to information, we will cost you financial loss by aggressive cyber intrusion. An intrusion your $130 million cyber security will not be able to stop.'

straitstimes.com

Saying: 'And finally we call upon our fellow Singaporean brothers and sisters to join our protest by dressing fully in black & red on the 5th of November to paint your streets with the colors that represent the current Singaporeans emotion.'

therealsingapore.com

We urge you to black out your FB profile picture for a day along with the status message: 'I am a Singaporean and i had enough of being oppressed! I want my freedom back!!', the group added.

straitstimes.com

The video ended with the message: "Remember, remember. The fifth of November", a famous line from Fawkes who threatened to blow the parliament building in England on November 5, 1605.

straitstimes.com