Detention without trial looms for Malaysian hackers
PrintGovernment crackdown
Posted in Music and Media, 8th January 2001 12:19 GMT
Free whitepaper – Enabling The Agile Data Center
Malaysian authorities may apply draconian powers that allow indefinite detention without trial in order to deter hacking.
In a debate that followed an attack on the Malaysian Parliament's Web site, Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin said the government may apply the country's Internal Security Act in future cases of hacking. The 40-year-old law is most commonly used against political dissidents.
The Malaysian parliamentary site was defaced on 29 December but the attack went overlooked until the matter was raised by opposition leaders days later.
Hacker Topeira broke into the site and left a statement in Portuguese which said: "Just hacked by Doormouse. Propaganda so very vile."
This oversight contributed to a feeling that the Malaysian government, which is looking to draw in hi-tech investment and create jobs in IT, is woefully lax with regard to computer security.
Associated Press quotes unnamed sources who estimate that 50 of 700 government-owned Web sites have been hacked in recent years. ®
Related Stories
Communists, Blofeld et al plan cyber Pearl Harbor for US
Clinton Admin goes out in a blaze of cyber-terror
Hacker meltdown fails to materialise
Mafiaboy gets a real job
HSBC site daubed with graffiti
a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/13385.html">Pepsi site hacked and smacked
Analyst Keynote: The Register Agile Data Center Summit
Managing desktop software for fun and profit
Enabling the Agile Data Center
Analyst Keynote: The Register Agile Data Center Summit
Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide
Top 500 supers - rise of the Linux quad-cores
Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter