Hmm... its worrisome to me that people are cheering the recent hacking attempts in Singapore. 1.) A coordinated hacking attack is not a benign incident that just affects a homepage. Its a concerted attack on sovereign property. Imagine for a moment that splinter group from China decided to launch a coordinated invasion into Singapore. Would you just sit back and say, Hah! Serves you right government of Singapore!. 2.) You see some people saying the hackers are noble and anti-establishment. Fact is most hacking attempts are made for profit. In the perspective of a government, it is the loss of assets (eg cash) or information. Imagine for a moment that the hackers are using the attempt as a front, while in the background, they are stealing your bank account details, your private personal information, your CPF monies. Would you carry and say, Carry on! Please show the government a thing or two! 3.) It should be no less worrisome that an unknown enemy is attacking our sovereign property than if North Korea decided it wants our little island. Im glad that websites are taken down and the investments made by Singapore 10 years ago in Singapore CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) are paying off. 4.) IDA says that many government websites and sites of public institutions like ST were taken down in routine maintenance. Personally I see no reason to doubt this. Imagine you were a hacker collective and were a benign, anti-establishment one. When would you want to make your stand, your anti-establishment statement? On a Saturday when less people go online? Or on a Monday or Wednesday when EVERYONE is online? If you were a malevolent hacking collective, and are doing it for profit then weekends would be less good as well as it means you will be hunted down faster due to lower network loads. So, why do you doubt IDA? 5.) I find it far more plausible that IDA or some agency did a review of internet access points following the public threat, and found some gaps in the fence. IDA then took steps to take down all the exposed sites to harden the network and close the gaps. This is your tax dollars in action folks, no secret hacking attempt. 6.) If there WAS a hacking attempt then it was a lousy one coz there was no outward evidence.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 01:25:29 +0000