Indonesian hackers attacking Malaysian web sites: Watchdog
Indonesian hackers attacking Malaysian web sites: Watchdog
Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur
Hundreds of Malaysian Web sites were hacked into and defaced this
year, evidently by Indonesians upset over a territorial spat
between the neighboring countries, an Internet watchdog said.
At least 256 Malaysian sites were broken into in the first
three months of 2005, compared to 42 intrusions reported in the
previous quarter, Malaysia's Computer Emergency Response Team, or
MYCert, which monitors Internet security, said in its quarterly
report seen on Monday.
Most hackings were in March, when a war of words brewed
between Malaysia and Indonesia amid a long-standing dispute over
the oil- and gas-rich area in the Ambalat region of the Sulawesi
Sea.
"We received an overwhelming number of reports on Web
defacements of local Web sites, which had caused lots of
annoyances and disturbances to our country," MYCert, a private
organization, said in the report.
The hackers left messages of "hatred or dissatisfaction
against the government of Malaysia and its ministers," the group
said. It said the hackings were believed to be the work of
Indonesians, and the group asked the Indonesian government to
appeal to its citizens to stop the attacks.
However, there was no severe damage to Malaysia's computer
network infrastructure, it said.
The group did not identify the sites hacked, but industry
observers say they included home pages belonging to state-run
universities, museums and other government-backed institutions.
Successful hackings subsided in recent weeks after MYCert
urged Web site owners to improve their software and eliminate
other vulnerabilities in their system, the report said.
Tensions flared in the Sulawesi Sea after Malaysia awarded
exploration rights earlier this year to oil blocks in the region,
which is also claimed by Indonesia. Both countries deployed
warships there amid mutual accusations of trespass and violation
of maritime borders.
Both governments have set up a technical team to study the
competing claims after their leaders agreed in late March to work
together to resolve the problem peacefully.