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Published on July 21, 2007

Hackers who breached the website of the Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) could be Thai nationals based in Germany, the police Information Technology Centre said yesterday.

The online invasion was done from a computer based in Europe, said Colonel Yannaphon Yangyuen.

The officer said his department had earlier sent information about Thai hackers to the ministry to monitor them even before the breach on Thursday.

Yannaphon said that the ministry did not ask his centre to find the hackers. His statement that the hackers were possibly Thais based in Germany was from his own investigation.

As a result of the hacking, the ministry yesterday handed over all systems security to CAT Telecom. The intrusion prompted the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) to reconsider the military's system security, said Isoc spokesman Colonel Thanathip Sawang-saeng.

He said all military units had been instructed to report their readiness to cope with online security breaches and to work closely with CAT Telecom to draft joint precautionary measures for future use.

Quoting CAT Telcom officials, Thanathip said there would be no 100-per-cent guarantee of security.

"But given the lesson we have learned, there will be systematic organisation for mechanisms to deter and prevent future hackings," he added.

The spokesman said Isoc had not analysed if the hacking was conducted to discredit the Council for National Security and its chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

Unofficially Isoc discussed at an earlier meeting the possibility that the hacking could have been to confuse the public over the coming referendum on the new constitution.

A ministry legal adviser earlier filed a complaint with Thung Song Hong police over the hacking. If those responsible are found they, could be charged with multiple offences stated in three articles under the Computer-related Crimes Act and could face combined sentences of between three to 15 years and fines ranging from Bt60,000 to Bt300,000.

Sonthi dismissed the hacking and those who did it as unimportant and said there was nothing hidden in the Army's official website.

The Army commander said he did not lose face from the hacking but deplored the "unpatriotic" act.