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10-11-2013, 01:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Has the cyber war begun? (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/11/09/has-the-cyber-war-begun/)
http://images.dmca.com/Badges/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png?ID=f11d7371-0ef1-483b-888a-04e8d2ba2e94
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png November 9th, 2013 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Contributions (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/contributor/)
Anonymous hackers have declared war on Singapore with a pledge to hit
at official infrastructure. This has left Singaporeans with a sense of
foreboding about what is to come.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Seah-Chiang-Nee-Insight-Down-South.jpg
Seah Chiang Nee
An aura of uncertainty, even fear, has crept into this intelligent island
where the computer widely affects every home, office and school.
Since an anonymous network of hackers threatened war on the government and
its infrastructure, many official websites – including the Prime Minister’s
Office – became inaccessible for a long period.
Others included the police force and internal security department and
ministries like finance, home affairs and national development as well as
Parliament and the Cabinet.
Many citizens are not sure whether there had been a cyber-attack or, as
officially explained, the outage was due to a planned maintenance that hit
“routing and hardware”.
“At no point were these websites the target of cyber-attacks,” insisted the
authorities.
But an e-mail purportedly from “The Messiah”, an alleged hacker who is part
of an international network, said several members had worked together to put
them down.
The declaration of war with a pledge to hit at official infrastructure last
Saturday has placed Singaporeans with a sense of foreboding about what is to
come.
Singapore – its economy and education system – has been heavily dependent on
the Internet for two decades.
After four days of silence, a defiant Prime Minister vowed to track down the
anonymous hackers and bring them to justice.
Lee Hsien Loong told reporters: “Our IT (information technology) network, the
Internet, our communications have become an essential part of our business and
our lives now.
“…When somebody threatens to do harm to it … we will spare no effort to try
and track down the culprits and if we can find him, we will bring him to justice
and he will be dealt with severely.”
The response is not surprising. Few people had really expected the
authorities to give in.
A day later, the PM Office website was mockingly hacked by Anonymous, saying
“It’s great to be Singaporean today”.
Singapore may be entering a new era of IT threats where unidentified foreign
predators – for good or bad reasons – can wreak chaos to their lives.
“These may be the good guys. What if they were followed by the really bad
ones with destructive ideas?” asked a political analyst.
Since the harm of computer warfare is unimaginable, most people tend to
oppose its use to achieve social and human rights, the declared aim of the
anonymous group.
Even within the Internet community, which is traditionally anti-government,
the reaction has been mixed.
“I love these guys for fighting on our behalf but am afraid they may actually
inflict harm on Singapore,” a netizen said. “We will have to fight the
government our way, through elections.”
Therein lies the government’s dilemma. It is facing a dangerous new threat
with some younger Singaporeans less than supportive of it.
The anonymous group is not without problems, too. It can only win if it gets
the Singapore public on its side.
This is unlikely to happen if its hacking activities are stepped up to a
level where people’s welfare is harmed.
This could swing Singaporeans behind the government and turn against them –
which is not what they want.
Observers notice that of all the closures, the Central Provident Fund website
was unaffected.
The trouble began last Saturday when an anonymous hacker wearing a Guy Fawkes
mask demanded the Singapore government, over YouTube, to withdraw its recent
laws to licence online news.
Economists fear that a prolonged digital war may undermine business
confidence and affect the economy, particularly e-commerce here and in the
region.
Singaporeans are by nature not aggressive. Some see it as Hobson’s choice,
between supporting the anonymous group’s “noble objective” and their own jobs
and careers.
The public stayed largely away from the hackers’ call for a general protest
on Nov 5. So did most bloggers, although some Facebook users had blacked out
their profile pictures as a sign of support.
Since many Singaporeans are not tech-savvy, they tend to worry about the
worst of a cyber-war – chaotic roads and airports, missing bank accounts,
etc.
The government, however, has insisted the websites were closed for a
pre-planned maintenance which was aggravated by “routing and hardware
glitches”.
The episode showed the government was apparently unprepared to meet a major
hacking threat.
It signifies that defence of Singapore now goes beyond the need for national
service and a people’s army, missiles and jet-fighters.
Recently, the government announced a new S$130mil (RM332mil) budget to be
spent in the next five years for research in countering cyber-warfare.
The hacking began last December, when the websites of the government People’s
Association and 16 related bodies were hacked and closed.
A number of assaults followed, including the town council of PM Lee’s
constituency.
The hackers putting pressure on the People’s Action Party (PAP) government
will likely see some long-term impact.
The ever presence of a global group of high-powered hackers, and their
threat, will likely make the policy-makers a lot more cautious in the
future.
Seah Chiang
Nee
Chiang Nee has been a journalist for 40
years. He is a true-blooded Singaporean, born, bred and says that he hopes to
die in Singapore. He worked as a Reuters corespondent between 1960-70, based in
Singapore but with various assignments in Southeast Asia, including a total of
about 40 months in (then South) Vietnam between 1966-1970. In 1970, he left to
work for Singapore Herald, first as Malaysia Bureau Chief and later as News
Editor before it was forced to close after a run-in with the Singapore
Government. He then left Singapore to work for The Asian, the world’s first
regional weekly newspaper, based in Bangkok to cover Thailand and Indochina for
two years between 1972-73. Other jobs: News Editor of Hong Kong Standard
(1973-74), Foreign Editor of Straits Times with reporting assignments to Asia,
Europe, Africa, the Middle East and The United States (1974-82) and Editor of
Singapore Monitor (1982-85). Since 1986, he has been a columnist for the
Malaysia’s The Star newspaper. This article first appeared on his blog, www.littlespeck.com (http://www.littlespeck.com/).
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?167982-Has-the-cyber-war-begun&goto=newpost).
Has the cyber war begun? (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/11/09/has-the-cyber-war-begun/)
http://images.dmca.com/Badges/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png?ID=f11d7371-0ef1-483b-888a-04e8d2ba2e94
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png November 9th, 2013 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Contributions (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/contributor/)
Anonymous hackers have declared war on Singapore with a pledge to hit
at official infrastructure. This has left Singaporeans with a sense of
foreboding about what is to come.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Seah-Chiang-Nee-Insight-Down-South.jpg
Seah Chiang Nee
An aura of uncertainty, even fear, has crept into this intelligent island
where the computer widely affects every home, office and school.
Since an anonymous network of hackers threatened war on the government and
its infrastructure, many official websites – including the Prime Minister’s
Office – became inaccessible for a long period.
Others included the police force and internal security department and
ministries like finance, home affairs and national development as well as
Parliament and the Cabinet.
Many citizens are not sure whether there had been a cyber-attack or, as
officially explained, the outage was due to a planned maintenance that hit
“routing and hardware”.
“At no point were these websites the target of cyber-attacks,” insisted the
authorities.
But an e-mail purportedly from “The Messiah”, an alleged hacker who is part
of an international network, said several members had worked together to put
them down.
The declaration of war with a pledge to hit at official infrastructure last
Saturday has placed Singaporeans with a sense of foreboding about what is to
come.
Singapore – its economy and education system – has been heavily dependent on
the Internet for two decades.
After four days of silence, a defiant Prime Minister vowed to track down the
anonymous hackers and bring them to justice.
Lee Hsien Loong told reporters: “Our IT (information technology) network, the
Internet, our communications have become an essential part of our business and
our lives now.
“…When somebody threatens to do harm to it … we will spare no effort to try
and track down the culprits and if we can find him, we will bring him to justice
and he will be dealt with severely.”
The response is not surprising. Few people had really expected the
authorities to give in.
A day later, the PM Office website was mockingly hacked by Anonymous, saying
“It’s great to be Singaporean today”.
Singapore may be entering a new era of IT threats where unidentified foreign
predators – for good or bad reasons – can wreak chaos to their lives.
“These may be the good guys. What if they were followed by the really bad
ones with destructive ideas?” asked a political analyst.
Since the harm of computer warfare is unimaginable, most people tend to
oppose its use to achieve social and human rights, the declared aim of the
anonymous group.
Even within the Internet community, which is traditionally anti-government,
the reaction has been mixed.
“I love these guys for fighting on our behalf but am afraid they may actually
inflict harm on Singapore,” a netizen said. “We will have to fight the
government our way, through elections.”
Therein lies the government’s dilemma. It is facing a dangerous new threat
with some younger Singaporeans less than supportive of it.
The anonymous group is not without problems, too. It can only win if it gets
the Singapore public on its side.
This is unlikely to happen if its hacking activities are stepped up to a
level where people’s welfare is harmed.
This could swing Singaporeans behind the government and turn against them –
which is not what they want.
Observers notice that of all the closures, the Central Provident Fund website
was unaffected.
The trouble began last Saturday when an anonymous hacker wearing a Guy Fawkes
mask demanded the Singapore government, over YouTube, to withdraw its recent
laws to licence online news.
Economists fear that a prolonged digital war may undermine business
confidence and affect the economy, particularly e-commerce here and in the
region.
Singaporeans are by nature not aggressive. Some see it as Hobson’s choice,
between supporting the anonymous group’s “noble objective” and their own jobs
and careers.
The public stayed largely away from the hackers’ call for a general protest
on Nov 5. So did most bloggers, although some Facebook users had blacked out
their profile pictures as a sign of support.
Since many Singaporeans are not tech-savvy, they tend to worry about the
worst of a cyber-war – chaotic roads and airports, missing bank accounts,
etc.
The government, however, has insisted the websites were closed for a
pre-planned maintenance which was aggravated by “routing and hardware
glitches”.
The episode showed the government was apparently unprepared to meet a major
hacking threat.
It signifies that defence of Singapore now goes beyond the need for national
service and a people’s army, missiles and jet-fighters.
Recently, the government announced a new S$130mil (RM332mil) budget to be
spent in the next five years for research in countering cyber-warfare.
The hacking began last December, when the websites of the government People’s
Association and 16 related bodies were hacked and closed.
A number of assaults followed, including the town council of PM Lee’s
constituency.
The hackers putting pressure on the People’s Action Party (PAP) government
will likely see some long-term impact.
The ever presence of a global group of high-powered hackers, and their
threat, will likely make the policy-makers a lot more cautious in the
future.
Seah Chiang
Nee
Chiang Nee has been a journalist for 40
years. He is a true-blooded Singaporean, born, bred and says that he hopes to
die in Singapore. He worked as a Reuters corespondent between 1960-70, based in
Singapore but with various assignments in Southeast Asia, including a total of
about 40 months in (then South) Vietnam between 1966-1970. In 1970, he left to
work for Singapore Herald, first as Malaysia Bureau Chief and later as News
Editor before it was forced to close after a run-in with the Singapore
Government. He then left Singapore to work for The Asian, the world’s first
regional weekly newspaper, based in Bangkok to cover Thailand and Indochina for
two years between 1972-73. Other jobs: News Editor of Hong Kong Standard
(1973-74), Foreign Editor of Straits Times with reporting assignments to Asia,
Europe, Africa, the Middle East and The United States (1974-82) and Editor of
Singapore Monitor (1982-85). Since 1986, he has been a columnist for the
Malaysia’s The Star newspaper. This article first appeared on his blog, www.littlespeck.com (http://www.littlespeck.com/).
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?167982-Has-the-cyber-war-begun&goto=newpost).