Alleged Anonymous duo officially charged

[geovalin]

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Laignee Barron

Two more alleged members of hacking group Anonymous Cambodia were slapped with court charges and sent to join two fellow “hacktivists” in Prey Sar prison.

Keo Sipheng and Hok Ratana, both 26, were accused in court yesterday of committing an “information technology offence”, according to Meas Chan Piseth, vice prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court. But as Cambodia currently lacks a specific cybercrime law, the pair was charged with attempting to commit a crime and falsifying information, crimes that could mean up to two years imprisonment and a 4 million riel ($1,000) fine.

They were arrested last Thursday by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) after allegedly hacking into and temporarily disabling the unit’s web server.

“Their case has been sent to an investigative judge for a further decision,” Piseth said, adding that both men worked as IT staff at Phnom Penh’s IIC University of Technology, a claim denied by IIC yesterday.

“IIC cooperated with [the] ACU to arrest the two hackers,” said an IIC administrator who declined to provide a name, adding that “the two arrested hackers are not IIC’s staff”.

A senior official working at the Anti-Corruption Unit who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Phnom Penh Post that the two suspects had helped design and maintain the ACU’s website.

“They used the name ‘Game-Over-xX23xX’ to attack and destroy ACU’s data and website,” he said.

The arrests – part of an ongoing investigation assisted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation – follows a sting last month in which two 21-year-old students, Bun King Mongkolpanha and Chu Songheng, became the first unmasked and handcuffed members of Anonymous Cambodia.

In response to the ongoing investigation, Anonymous has declared cyberwar on the Cambodian government and posted recruitment calls on its Twitter and Facebook accounts to redouble their network.

ACU president Om Yentieng and spokesman Keo Remy could not be reached for comment.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/alleged-anonymous-duo-officially-charged