POLICE HAS NEW LEAD ON WEBSITE HACKING CASE

Police have a fresh lead into those responsible for hacking several official government and private sector websites, said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar.

However, he declined to comment further in order to allow investigations to be carried out smoothly.

"It's still too early for us to reveal who is involved. However, the police will continue to assist the Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in the matter.

"If investigations reveal that there is a criminal motive, we will propose to the MCMC to block their websites," told a news conference after attending a National Defence Fund cheque presentation ceremony at the Federal police headqaurters here Thursday.

A group of cyber criminals known as Dragon Force Malaysia managed to hack the websites of the Polytechnic Studies Department, Higher Education Department and a private tourism portal, early Wednesday morning.

The cyber attacks interrupted the www.politeknik.gov.my and www.
tourmalaysia.com.my, owned by Impressions Holidays & Resort Sdn Bhd, for 13 hours until 1pm Wednesday.

Another group of hackers dubbed Anonymous had also threatened to hack government websites under Operation Malaysia at 3.30am Thursday.

In southern towm of KLUANG, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said police would work closely with foreign intelligence agencies and share data as the hacker attacks were not only limited to Malaysia but also occurred in several other countries.

Regarding the Bersih 2.0 rally, he said rally organisers may be hoping to be apprehended as a way to enliven the event in hopes that Malaysia could copy what happened in the Middle East.

On the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) on rally organisers, he said the organisers probably hoped the government would not act to that extent.