'Anonymous' hacks blog on Straits Times website
[UPDATED on 1 Nov 2013 at 4:23pm: adding Singapore Press Holdings' response]
Local publisher Singapore Press Holdings has filed a police report after a blog on The Straits Times website was hacked into in the early hours of Friday.
It appears to have been compromised by the same person responsible for posting a video on YouTube on Thursday afternoon, threatening a cyber attack on Singapore's government infrastructure.
SPH added that the The Straits Times stands by its reports and reporters.
According to the broadsheet, government agencies have been put on alert after the incident. It reported that the Government IT Security Incident Response Team alerted all government agencies after the video was posted.
The hacker, "The Messiah", said in a lengthy message posted over a blog entry by ST reporter Irene Tham that her story, which said the threat was targeted at "Singapore", instead of the "Singapore government", had misled readers.
Earlier, someone claiming to be part of Anonymous posted a video on YouTube threatening to disrupt key infrastructure in Singapore to protest the government's new online media licensing rules.
In the 3-minute and 40-second YouTube video posted on 29 October, the individual — using an image of a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask — cautions the government not to underestimate them, saying their actions will be like "dipping yourselves in a pool of piranhas".
In response Thursday evening, a spokesperson from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said, "We are aware of the video, and the police are investigating into the matter."
In an encrypted voice, the person on the video makes reference to "one of (the group's) comrades", "The Messiah", who recently broke into the Ang Mo Kio Town Council website, the PAP Community Foundation website as well as Sun Ho's official website on three separate instances.
"(The Messiah) demonstrated what a single Anon could do to your so-called technologically-advanced island," added the voice. It revealed that apart form protesting the implementation of the Media Development Authority's new licensing framework, the purpose of its "invasion" is to call on the government to "stop feigning ignorance and serve the people".
"Have you forgotten who you work for?" asked the voice, who called the licensing framework "ridiculous, communistic, oppressive and offensive".
"No government has the right to deprive their citizens the freedom of information," it continued. "We demand you reconsider the regulations of your framework or we will be forced to go to war with you," the group adds.
In the video, which was removed from YouTube by its uploader by about 5:15pm, Anonymous also urged Singaporeans to join its protest by dressing in black and red on 5 November. Additionally, they asked Singaporeans to black out their Facebook profile pictures for the day.
Watch the video, uploaded by a separate YouTube account, here:
Related stories:
Police investigating Ang Mo Kio Town Council website hacking
Police investigating PAP Community Foundation's website hacking
Kong Hee on wife Sun Ho's website hacking: This episode is particularly malicious
