Seeds of discontent behind Malaysian cyberattacks
Netizen frustration over government intervention via censorship, which occurs from time to time, and the ease at which they can vent their grievances through social media channels, may have exacerbated the situation, say industry watchers. Newswire Reuters reported Thursday that online activist group Anonymous brought down more than 40 Web sites belonging to the Malaysian government, in what appeared to be a retaliation move against censorship.
The government, through industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), last week issued a directive to all Internet service providers (ISPs) asking them to block access of 10 specific Web sites. Most of the sites were file sharing in nature, including the well-known The Pirate Bay portal. On its part, the government defended its actions, noting such moves were necessary to curb the rampant piracy and copyright violations that it said was happening through such sites.
A security expert ZDNet Asia spoke with, who declined to be named, noted that the recent attacks on the government's Web infrastructure are an indication that some Malaysians have reached the breaking point insofar as how the government has chosen to regulate the Internet.
L33tdawg: Prior coverage on #opmalaysia can be viewed here and here
