YANGON – Hackers attacked military-run government websites in Myanmar today, as a cyber war erupted after authorities shut down the internet for a fourth straight night.
A group called “Myanmar Hackers” disrupted multiple government websites, including the central bank, military propaganda page, state-run broadcaster MRTV, Port Authority, and Food and Drug Administration.
The move comes a day after thousands of people rallied across the country to protest against a military coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government from power earlier this month.
“We are fighting for justice in Myanmar,” said the hacking group on its Facebook page.
“It is like a mass protesting of people in front of government websites.”
Cybersecurity expert Matt Warren from Australia’s RMIT University said it is likely that the aim of the hacking is to generate publicity.
“The sorts of attacks they would be undertaking are denial of service attacks, or defacing websites, which is called hacktivism,” he told AFP.
“The impact will be potentially limited, but what they are doing is raising awareness.”
Another internet shutdown began in Myanmar about 1am today (1830 GMT yesterday), according to NetBlocks, a Britain-based group that monitors internet outages around the world.
It said internet connectivity in Myanmar has dropped to just 21% of ordinary levels. – AFP, February 18, 2021
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