A cyberwar waged by an army of Julian Assanges

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 17, 11

‘It’s great that the government has a taste of how it was like when Malaysiakini was attacked prior to Sarawak election.’

At least 41 websites hacked, says MCMC

Patriot: The truth cannot be hidden no matter how one tries to suppress it or prevent access to it. Malaysians who access the Internet are mostly those who have the capability of making their own judgements on what is right or fabricated, destructive or educational, etc.

Malaysians who surf the Internet today have intellectual capacity on par with their Western and advanced Asian counterparts. Third World governments and their depraved leaders are always fearful of their hidden skeletons in the closets being exposed and thus try to suppress anything that may even have an inkling of their wrongdoings.

The more one tries to censor or block, the more suspicions one creates. The warning of hacking was given and carried out efficiently. Perhaps the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) thought it was invincible.

Anonymous_4031: The Information Ministry was fast asleep while the hackers ‘Anonymous’ attacked 41 government websites. Minister Rais Yatim must read ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tze, ‘Lateral Thinking’ by Edward de Bono, and ‘Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite’ by Paul Arden.

Did you think the hackers would do (exactly) what they say they will do? You expect them to hack the websites today, but they did the job yesterday.

You want to fight WikiLeaks led by Julian Assange? He will reveal more things about Malaysia for the whole world to see. He has declared he enjoys creating systems on a grand scale and helping people who are vulnerable.

How do you fight him in this cyberwar? By doing the opposite of what he expects you to do: be transparent and be open. When information is out in the open, what else can he reveal?

Anonymous_5fb: I am ‘amazed’ with the speed the IGP (inspector-general of police) and MCMC responded to the attacks. I am even more ‘impressed’ they are so sure that no personal or financial data were compromised.

Even with such attacks, I don’t see they being more humble. They are still as arrogant, if not more arrogant. It looks like they still think they are very ‘changgih’.

Gov’t portals paralysed by Anonymous hackers group

Meranti Kepong: This attack by Anonymous hackers shows that the Malaysian government is not only unpopular internationally but has antagonised surfers everywhere. Let’s hope that the government has learned a painful lesson and cease from controlling legitimate Internet activities.

Ranjit Singh: Bravo! It’s about time the common people unite to strike back against an unjust government for the sake of humanity. Now it is the time for the common people to unite to act by going down to the streets to voice in large numbers, without fear or favour, against a ruthless government that goes against basic humanity in the name of race, religion and creed.

Anonymous_5fb: I told you so, Government of Malaysia. These are the ‘repercussions’ that I mentioned would happen when you decided to ban the 10 websites. Padan muka.

Relak Aje: People who try to block and censor have a lot to hide from the public eye. To say they are stopping the illegal downloading of movies is a lame and pathetic excuse. Why is Wikileaks also a target?

They must be taught to understand that you can’t fool everybody all of the time. Least of all, the corrupt have absolutely no right to decide what the people should and should not know.

Zz2XX: Umno must learn that their censorship policy won’t be accepted by anyone. Dr Mahathir Mohamad had promised that there will be no censorship of the Internet. So what is Umno trying to do?

Today it’s these sites. I won’t be surprised if tomorrow it’s Malaysiakini, MalaysiaToday, etc.

Nil: Whatever the intentions of the Anonymous hackers group, its action in disabling the Malaysian governmental websites is depriving the public of vital information. Its action is against the very “freedom of the Net” that it fights for.

I do not support censorship of the Net, but the Anonymous hackers group should try other methods.

KLeo: As pleasurable as it is seeing the government scramble to secure their ill-protected multi-million ringgit websites, as satisfying as it is hearing Rais Yatim beg for mercy, I think the Anonymous group’s methods are indefensible.

‘You don’t agree with me, I attack the hell out of you.’ What does that sound like to you? Can someone say ‘terrorists’?

Think: It is probably a warning to those who wish to censor the Internet or ban certain sites they feel inappropriate for Malaysians. It is like they are saying, “You ban them, we’ll ban you. Pick your choice.”

At least now, the government will know that the people can indeed fight back.

Mangoduria: If you read other news sources, you’ll see that some websites that useful provide services were back up by 9am.

There was also a pre-warning yesterday of the exact time of when the attack will start (19:30 GMT). This is either Anonymous’s ethical hacking or that the government IT group heroically worked round the clock to restore crucial services. You decide.

Ro$m@h: I bet my thousand ringgit Prada underwear that what comes next will be multi-million ringgit contracts for some RM2 moronic Umno companies to secure the useless government portals.

Jinggy: It will be good if the hackers could also do something to stop the government from monopolising the media like TV3, TV2, T1 and Bernama TV, especially now that the 13th general election is nearing. Umno/BN will fully use these TV stations for their election campaign to brainwash the foolish fence-sitters and talk bad about the opposition.

Anonymous: It’s great that the government has a taste of how it was like when Malaysiakini was attacked prior to Sarawak election.

Jiminy Qrikert: Now, the Malaysian government knows that out there somewhere, people of conscience are fighting back. So, the next time a party is paid to immobilise Malaysiakini, someone out there is willing to cripple the Malaysian government websites in return.

And if PM Najib Razak ‘pisses’ them off enough, that ‘someone’ might just cripple all Umno-BN friendly sites – Utusan Malaysia, for starters.

Phra Ong Chao: This hacking would have meant something if the government websites were actually useful in the first place.