Tighten govt online security: PM Prayut

[webfact]

Tighten govt online security: PM
ASINA PORNWASIN,
JEERAPONG PRASERTPOLKRUNG
THE NATION

MOVE FOLLOWS WARNING BY ANONYMOUS HACKER GROUP; ICT MINISTRY AND MILITARY ASSESSING THE THREAT; CAT DENIES PROPOSING SINGLE GATEWAY

BANGKOK: -- PRIME Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed relevant state agencies to tighten security in the government computer system and websites after a group of international hackers issued a threat on Thursday, Information and Communication Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana said.

Uttama tweeted yesterday that Prayut had told him and other agencies under his ministry to coordinate with relevant bodies to protect the government's information and services from hackers.

"I reported the hacking moves [on Thursday evening] to the PM and he told me to keep a close watch on those who have bad intentions," the minister said.

Uttama also called on people and businesses to keep their data safe and back it up regularly. He also denied that this threat had anything to do with the "cyber-army" unit set up by the military. The Army announced last week that it was establishing a cyber-army unit for security reasons.

Meanwhile, Deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that the ICT Ministry was looking into this hacking threat and that the military was also "doing its part" in dealing with the issue. He did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Anonymous - an international group of activists and hackers promoting Internet freedom - announced that it was targeting the Thai government in what it called "Operation Single Gateway". Two Twitter accounts @anonymouseasia and @LatestAnonNews tweeted a statement on their planned activities to ##OpSingleGateway under the hashtag #Anonymous. The full statement is available on http://pastebin.com/SL0ZaMxT.

Later, F5CyberArmy (@f5cyberarmy) tweeted that CAT had compromised thousands of customers' log-ins, passwords, IDs and more, and posted a screenshot of some data.

Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana, acting chief executive of CAT Telecom, said the screenshot displaying details of CAT clients was not real and no data had leaked from the CAT system.

Investigation showed that CAT had been hacked about 80 times via its MY Service system used by dealers. However, CAT insists there was no such hacking, and if information was leaked, dealers working under MY Service would automatically have recorded the leakage. Also, hackers do not have access to other database systems, it said.

He also added that CAT Telecom and the ICT Ministry were not planning to set up a single gateway - it is a misunderstanding, he said.

In fact, he said, the government was planning to woo world content providers to set up bases in Thailand, so the country could become an Asean digital hub.

The threat of the attack came after CAT allegedly handed in a proposal to set up a national Internet gateway to the ICT Ministry. Sanphachai Sanpachai, however, insists that it is not a gateway, but more a collaboration between the government and the private sector.

Traffic jam

Sanpachai added that on Thursday evening, there was twice the usual amount of "access-request" traffic to the CAT website, which was unusual during the evening and especially before a holiday. This sort of attack is called DDoS (distributed denial of service), where several compromised systems, often infected with a Trojan, are used to target a single system.

Sanpachai added that CAT complied with international standards like other operators, and was prepared for any kind of attack. It is also monitoring the system real-time, and is ready to step in once there is an unusual amount of traffic or packages, he added.

"We firmly insist that officials are monitoring the system and the back-office systems are turned off during this holiday period," he said.

He added that though some CAT customers had voiced concern over the security of their data, they had been assured that the agency followed international security standards.

Admitting that information about the attack has had a negative impact on CAT, Sanphachai Sanpachai insisted that the agency was prepared for the attacks.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Tighten-govt-online-security-PM-30271493.html

-- The Nation 2015-10-24

[jgriff]

Who would you believe?

[MaxLee]

PRIME Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed relevant state agencies to tighten security in the government computer system and websites after a group of international hackers issued a threat on Thursday, Information and Communication Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana said.

Uttama tweeted yesterday that Prayut had told him and other agencies under his ministry to coordinate with relevant bodies to protect the government's information and services from hackers.

"I reported the hacking moves [on Thursday evening] to the PM and he told me to keep a close watch on those who have bad intentions," the minister said.

INTERNATIONAL HACKERS, so it couldn't be Thais,...... well the possible Thai Hackers would be grateful to hear this, eh????

Uttama also called on people and businesses to keep their data safe and back it up regularly. He also denied that this threat had anything to do with the "cyber-army" unit set up by the military. The Army announced last week that it was establishing a cyber-army unit for security reasons.

The operating businesses have nothing to fear,IMHO, the only one who would be in troubles are the ruling regimes, UNLESS of course,..... they pull the plug ........................

[NongKhaiKid]

Keep playing this up, highlight threats to national security, keep the fear factor going all to justify ' regretable but necessary ' controls.

[oneday]

"...Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed relevant state agencies to tighten security in the government computer system and websites..."

Well there you go... All the relevant agencies will now stop being lazy and institute all those wonderful security measures they have just been sitting on. With a single sweeping edict from Mr. P. the problem is solved.

He also added that CAT Telecom and the ICT Ministry were not planning to set up a single gateway - it is a misunderstanding, he said.

Highly unlikely there is any misunderstanding. A single gateway is a "single gateway".

[gandalf12]

If the head of the CIA can be hacked I dont think they will have much problem with the system in Thailand

[DennisF]

Why the thread??

It's a non event.

Dearleader has micromanaged this perfectly... he told them.

Problem solved.

Move on, nothing to see here.

[sungod]

I'm, no expert but first I would concentrate on the easy stuff like how many ministries/government departments are running unlicensed versions of windows or another unlicensed/pirated software come to that. Also most of these people use free email accounts on their pc's that give a way in.

[Praematura]

To start with trusting a Thai to maintain the only gateway in Thailand translates to service outages. I wouldn't trust a Thai with anything I took seriously. Just saying.

[arrowsdawdle]

If the head of the CIA can be hacked I dont think they will have much problem with the system in Thailand

Wait till Ocho's emails are on Wiki Leaks. Oh to be a fly on the wall that day.

[arrowsdawdle]

To start with trusting a Thai to maintain the only gateway in Thailand translates to service outages. I wouldn't trust a Thai with anything I took seriously. Just saying.

No doubt they will be running a pirated 1994 version of Novell NetWare

[fred Kubasa]

" Sin Police" okay for censoring Internet but a 12 year old hacker could

blow Thai EXPERTS away ! If they do, randomly, in their spare time, hack

,away at some of the world's most secure sites Government/big business/

individuals, how would the Thais circumvent their activities ?

[silent]

Keep playing this up, highlight threats to national security, keep the fear factor going all to justify ' regretable but necessary ' controls.

Yep all very convenient justification from the who cares deeming of a "non-terrorist motive" for terrorist bombing, to now Oh my God "cyberattacks and Government secrets now" Yikes

"It's time to sell the Superman single Gateway plan that only kryptonite can penetrate now that we've got enough justification that nobody can cry over importance of privacy compared to National Security".

Is so difficult for people to connect dots in this country no wonder.

[jerojero]

Again he instructed or ordered or commanded.... More and more plainly retracting from his feeble attempts at becoming a politician, and true colors military control style coming out.

[Srikcir]

"a collaboration between the government and the private sector."

Isn't CAT a State-owned enterprise with a military CEO and military officers on the BoD?

As far as any private Thai sector internet provider, what would motivate them to voluntarily run all their traffic through a single government server gateway currently controlled by the military?

[gandalf12]

They did really well with two sites taken down last night. Maybe the truth will dawn on them that the hackers are very clever

[Thai at Heart]

" Sin Police" okay for censoring Internet but a 12 year old hacker could

blow Thai EXPERTS away ! If they do, randomly, in their spare time, hack

,away at some of the world's most secure sites Government/big business/

individuals, how would the Thais circumvent their activities ?

A 15 year old has just been arrested for hacking talk talk in the UK.