Friday, April 12, 2013

Radio Australia: Malaysian Media Sites Targeted In Cyber-Attack

Malaysian media sites targeted in cyber-attack

Updated 12 April 2013, 11:22 AEST

Cyber-attacks have taken several independent media outlets offline on the first day of Malaysia's election campaign.

Cyber-attacks have taken several independent media outlets offline on the first day of Malaysia's election campaign.

The websites for Radio Free Malaysia, Radio Free Sarawak and the news portal Sarawak Report have been brought down by a cyber attack strategy known as Distributed Denial Of Service.

A DDOS attack is one in which computers send millions requests at the same time, overwhelming the system.

The Editor of the Sarawak report, Clare Rewcastle Brown, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia says she believes the costs involved in an attack of this size points to government support.

"I have absolutely no doubt that this is sponsored by the government of Malaysia, the ruling party of Malaysia," she said.

"The BN ruling party, frankly they brag about their use of cyber-warfare - they seem to be quite proud of the fact that they engage in cyber-warfare."

Both the Barisan Nasional and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat have accused each other of engaging in cyber-attacks on the internet and in social media.

Ms Rewcastle Brown says while cyber-attacks targeting her sites are common, the election campaign has increased activity.

"It's been quite unprecedented, the level of attacks that we've been experiencing," she said.
"Yesterday alone we had 64 million hits targeting our site via these botnet networks that are hired out by criminal organisations, and they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire."

Ms Rewcastle Brown says she is seeking expert assistance to bring her websites back online.
The ABC is seeking comment from the Malaysian Government.

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