A series of cyber-attacks have been launched against Thai government websites in response to the recent passage of the Computer Crime Act, which will strengthen state censorship power and online surveillance.
After the junta’s rubber-stamp National Legislative Assembly (NLA) approved the amendment to the controversial Computer Crimes Act on 16 December, various government websites have been shut down by cyber-attacks.
Various actors have claimed responsibility for the attacks including the Thailand Internet Firewall’s Facebook page and the Anonymous, a loose worldwide network of hackers. The attacks came in the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), where an online service is made unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources.
The attacked websites include those belonging to the Police Region 1 Training Centre, the Thai Government, the Royal Gazette, the Ministry of Defense and the Royal Thai Navy. Most of the websites are now back online though some remain unavailable.
On 16 December, the Anonymous posted a budget document of the National Intelligence Agency and claimed that they had hacked the NIA to get it.
Concerns have been raised among Thai netizens that personal data might be published as part of the attacks. Thai Netizen Network (TNN) therefore tweeted a message urging the Anonymous to avoid attacking personal data.
“Thanks for support, #Anonymous. You made your point. Further hack may harm Thai citizens more than Junta. Please consider avoiding citizen data? Thanks,” reads the TNN twitter.
The main page of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society during the attack. The website is now back online.
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