Anonymous apparently just leaked personal data of Singaporean gov’t workers
A graffiti of Guy Fawkes mask, symbol of Anonymous, is pictured on April 6, 2013 in Florence. Designed by illustrator David Lloyd, it was used as a major plot element in V for Vendetta, published in 1982, and its 2006 film adaptation. After appearing in internet forums, the mask became the trademark symbol for the online hacktivist group Anonymous.
Individuals associated with the Anonymous collective have published what they claim is stolen personal information belonging to Singaporean government officials and private contractors, in retaliation for the arrest of individuals allegedly involved in 2013 defacements of Singaporean government websites.
The information leaked Friday includes names, home and office addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers, citizenship status and passport numbers of 10 people who appear to be government employees. Portions of the database containing the hacked information were provided to GlobalPost ahead of Friday's public release.
Offices of the Singaporean Infocomm Development Authority based in Singapore and California did not immediately respond to phone and email inquiries.
One Anon, as affiliated hackers are known, involved in the data breach claimed that the information was stolen from servers used by a company that does business with the Singaporean government. The Anon would not name the company.
The hacker described the data published Friday as “the tail end of a file containing the personal information of thousands of people associated with a certain Singaporean security corporation that does much business with the government. Specifically you will find just a handful of the records relating to government employees.”
The Anonymous hackers also threatened the Singaporean government with further attacks and breaches.
“Anonymous will be taking a continuing and active interest in Singapore and in particular the way the Singaporean government conducts itself,” an Anon involved in the data breach told GlobalPost.
“There will be further breaches, there will be more leaks.”
The document containing the stolen information read, “Ball is in your court, start showing a sense of justice and fairness, or you will find yourself facing the final boss of the internet, you are an island, we are a legion that spans the entire globe.”
The hackers identify three detained individuals Singapore believes were involved in the 2013 defacements – alleged Anonymous hacker “Messiah” James Raj, 17-year-old student Melvin Teo and 42-year-old Delson Moo. They are charged with the modification of computer material under Singapore’s Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act and each face up to three years in prison and an $8000 fine.
Raj, arrested in Malaysia , is being held in Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health to undergo psychiatric evaluation. During the period of his evaluation, he has been unable to contact his lawyer. Teo and Moo were arrested for allegedly using a tool known a cross-site scripting exploit, which enables hackers to display an image or text on a website using input tools like the site’s search function.
“Three years in prison for entering some text into a search bar as a prank that would never have been seen if the media had not publicized it? Does this seem just?” Anonymous said in its statement.
Anonymous has also planned public campaigns against the government, including a "tweet storm" — a barrage of tweets sent by a variety of supporters — directed at official accounts demanding the release of the individuals charged with hacking crimes. The campaign begins Saturday morning.
Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority called the planned Twitter offensive a “new cyber threat” and advised the public not to be alarmed by unusual activity involving government Twitter accounts.
Late last year, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pledged to “track down” hackers after Anons defaced his personal website and threatened to wage war against the country’s technological infrastructure.
“When somebody threatens to do harm to [Singapore's information infrastructure], we take that very seriously and we will spare no effort to try and track down the culprits,” Lee told the Wall Street Journal.
Often accused of being too focused on the US and Europe, Anonymous hackers have recently demonstrated renewed efforts against internet censorship and authoritarianism in the developing world – especially in Southeast Asia. Late last year, “Anonymous Cambodia” launched a campaign against the Cambodian government to coincide with street protests of election fraud, corruption and government land grabs. Other Anons, writing in Vietnamese, have expressed their outrage over government internet censorship.
“There is already localized Anonymous operations, what is needed is a greater awareness and understanding by the collective as a whole of these regional activists…Asia and Central and South America are areas that we need to renew focus on,” said the Anon involved with the Singapore data breach.
“Our reach is long, our grasp merely a series of keystrokes from all of your deepest, darkest buried secrets.”