Media Secy. accuses LTTE rump of cyber terrorism

The Government yesterday accused the remnants of Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam living overseas for hacking Government websites. Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information Charitha Herath said the Monday’s attack on the Media Ministry website as an act of ‘cyber terrorism’ by the LTTE rump living overseas. “We see this as an act of cyber terrorism,” Herath said.

A hacker, believed to be a Pakistani known as H4x0r HuSsY, has posted a link on the Media Ministry website at www.media.gov.lk directing to an Australian Broadcasting Corp report on atrocities during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s conflict against Tamil Tiger terrorists in 2009.

The hacker took down the website completely and uploaded a deface over the website that read “We Pakistanis are with Everyone! All We Want Is Justice! Justice Everywhere!”

However, the Ministry has promptly removed the message and repaired the website immediately, Herath said. The director told State-run media that the timing of attacks on Government websites is significant as the country is preparing to defend itself against the pro-LTTE forces at the UN Human Rights Council sessions that are currently underway.

“They (LTTE) operate on various fronts, this is (cyber) just one of them,” he told the media.

A hacker using the online moniker Davy Jones has attacked several high-profile websites of the Sri Lankan Government recently. The hacker has said that he continues to target Sri Lankan Government websites because he believes the Sri Lankan Government is corrupted.

Among the high-profile sites Davy Jones targeted were Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, the website of Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and the Sri Lankan High Commission of Maldives.

Another hacker by the name ‘Game Over’ hacked the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) and defaced the website’s main page on 17 January.

Following Monday’s attack on the Media Ministry site, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT), the centre for cyber security in Sri Lanka, has urged the private as well as Government sector institutions to take steps to protect their websites from hackers.

Roshan Chandraguptha, Information Security Engineer of the SLCERT in an interview with News360 website, has suggested the site owners to have strong passwords and keep the software used for web development and operating system of the web server updated for easy restoration.