Sabah crisis sparks 'cyberwar'
By Camille Diola (philstar.com) | Updated March 4, 2013
MANILA, Philippines - A hacker war between "cyber armies" from the Philippines and Malaysia has set off alongside the escalating tension in Sabah due to the clashes between the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu and Malaysian security forces.
On Monday, the "Philippine Cyber Army" continued with its onslaught claiming to have attacked 175 Malaysia-based sites including state-owned pages.
Individual Malaysian hackers appeared to have started the attacks on Philippine websites last Saturday, posting online threats and videos meaning to send a message to the Philippine government to keep away from the region of Sabah.
The Malaysian group first defaced the government-owned site of the municipality Moal Boal, Cebu.
"Bring your ship and take back your dogs. Stop killing Malaysian army and police. Otherwise, we will attack Philippine Government websites," said a message that took over moalboal.gov.ph's homepage on Saturday, signed by screen names of hackers supposedly from Malaysia.
Another message from hacking group "Anonymous Malaysia" was found over several government and private businesses' websites on Saturday, with a message addressed to "All Armed Forces Philippines" to drive Filipinos off Lahad Datu, Sabah, where the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu marched last February to stake their claim on the area.
Almost instantly, the "Anonymous Philippine Cyber Army" and related hackers retaliated starting with a call to the Philippine government to secure its online properties from Malaysian hackers.
"Nalulungkot po ako. Hindi po talaga maganda ang nangyayari. Anonymous versus Anonymous ang kalalabasan," Filipino hackers posted on the same page, referring to 'Anonymous' as a supposedly "united" worldwide alliance of cyberpunks.
The Filipino group then posted a warning video to their Malaysian counterparts and went on to hack about 20 private websites under Malaysia's national domain (.my) on Sunday.
'Peace'
The official Facebook page of Anonymous Malaysia on Monday posted a graphic claiming that they have made "peace" with hackers from the Philippines and vowed not to push through with attacks.
"Let us help both The Philippines and Malaysia unite, not find a reason to fight," the hackers said.
The decision to cease the cyberwars appeared to have been called by the international Anonymous body, urging both groups to "stop" those who have joined the "petty cyber-war."
"The petty cyber-war will gain us nothing but wrong impressions from ordinary people. Our goal is to peacefully unite the collective consciousness of humanity," the letter read.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/03/04/915721/sabah-crisis-sparks-cyberwar
Google gets hacked over Asian stand-off!
Supporters of an armed bid by Filipino intruders to lay claim to a Malaysian state took their campaign to cyberspace today, leading to Google search listings being hacked to show a message backing the incursion.
A Google search for the word 'Sabah', the state at the centre of Malaysia's biggest security crisis in years, came back with a search results page that quotes 'Wikipedia' calling Malaysian control of the state “illegitimate”.
“Sabah is illegitimately considered one of the 13 member states of Malaysia, and is said to be its easternmost state but in fact, it is part of the Sultanate of Sulu,” the passage read, shown in a box previewing the Wikipedia entry for Sabah.
Malaysians have been shocked by the militant incursion, which began when an estimated 100-300 people landed on the shores of Sabah on February 12, claiming the state for the heir to a former Philippine sultanate.
The website of Stamford College in Malaysia was apparently hacked at the weekend, its front page replaced by a message that said: “The time has come to reclaim what is truly ours.
“Sabah is owned by the Philippines, you illegally (sic) claiming it,” it said.
Philippine news portals have said a number of sites in the country were hit by pro-Malaysia hackers.
Google gets hacked over Asian stand-off!
Battle For Sabah Reaches Cyberspace
By: Carlos Dave B. Garcia and Krisselle Kate Q. Nery
Published: March 4, 2013
The battle between Malaysian police and Kiram followers for Sabah birthright has been extended and brought into cyberspace by two anonymous groups.
Malaysian and Filipino hackers exchanged cyber attacks over the weekend, echoing the actual combat in Sabah on Friday to Sunday.
Hackers claiming to be from Malaysian and Filipino chapters of the “hacktivist” group Anonymous, attacked websites of both countries.
It was said that Malaysians executed the first online attacks hours after the ground skirmish was reported between Malaysian police and Sulu gunmen on Friday.
On the Facebook page of Anonymous Malaysia, they posted a Tagalog message warning Filipinos to cease else they would strike.
“Warning for Philipine, Sa lahat ng mga residente Sa Filifina, Kami ba Anonymous Malaysia Aling May 14 Estado Fruit kabilang Sabah ay Mayroon pun mong lumaban!” goes part of the message.
According to “The Pinoy Tech News,” some Philippine government websites were hit by denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and others were defaced including: the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Tourism, Department of Health, and the Bureau of Immigration.
They also defaced the Cebu province’s official website of Moalboal, with a message that reads: ”Take some action about your dogs in our country. Bring your ship and take back your dogs, stop killing Malaysian army & police. Otherwise, we will attack Philippine goverment websites. No time to make some joke, terrorist are terrorist. Nothing’s changed!”
Hackers from the Philippines then struck back, attacking and defacing several Malaysian private and government-owned websites.
“Greetings Malaysia! Greetings Government! Stop attacking over our cyberspace or else we will attack your cyber world!” the Philippine hacktivist’s message read.
Shortly after, Anonymous Malaysia apologized for the attacks they’ve done and urged Anonymous Philippines to stop the cyber-war regarding Sabah. However, after the settled truce, another Philippine website,
http://www.7-eleven.com.ph/files, was hacked, and was followed by a number of websites.
In revenge, the Philippine hackers hacked more than 170 Malaysian websites as of yesterday afternoon.
They also called for their followers to launch DoS attacks against local sites.
It was reported by “The Star Online” that a statement allegedly made by Anonymous has called for hackers of both countries to stand down.
“The petty cyber-war will gain us nothing but wrong impressions from ordinary people... Let us help both the Philippines and Malaysia unite, not find a reason to fight,” they were quoted.
Unfortunately, the alleged statement made by Anonymous did not dissuade hackers who are continuing their attacks.
Malaysia’s CyberSecurity chief executive officer Dr. Amirudin Abdul Wahab said that their government was “well aware of the matter but declined further comment.”
Just yesterday evening, both Anonymous groups from the Philippines and Malaysia posted on their Facebook accounts that the rift between them has already been resolved. (With reports from thestar.com, thepinoytechnews.com)
Manila Bulletin