Since April 20, Malaysiakini, a popular online newspaper that is often critical of the government, has experienced technical interference that has prevented users from accessing its website from inside Malaysia. Readers have experienced slow-downs or sudden drops in service when browsing the website, which has been unpredictable and varied in time. It is unclear whether current disruptions are the result of interference by Internet service providers (ISPs) or by some other actor at centralized Internet gateways that connect Malaysia to the global Internet. Malaysiakini has been the target of distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks in the past. On April 28, the newspaper reported that several of its Twitter accounts had been hacked and taken over; the accounts were recovered on April 30.
On April 11, a major DDOS attack brought down three London-based radio web portals – Radio Free Malaysia, Radio Free Sarawak, and Sarawak Report – that have regularly been critical of the Malaysia federal government and the state government of Sarawak. The attack, emanating from computers around the world, generated over 130 million hits on the three websites in the course of three-and-a-half hours, rapidly overwhelming them. All three websites were only able to return to full operation on April 16.
Radio Free Malaysia, which began operations in March 2013, delivers election-related news to Sarawak’s urban population and openly supports Pakatan Rakyat. Radio Free Sarawak and the Sarawak Report, which broadcast primarily to indigenous people in Sarawak’s rural areas, frequently report on government corruption and criticize government policies affecting rural residents. In addition to the DDOS attacks, since the start of the election period Radio Free Sarawak broadcasts in the Iban language over shortwave radio lost clear transmission after jamming with noise transmitted on the same shortwave frequency.
“Ensuring everyone can access information without interference is critical if there is to be a level political playing field in Malaysia,” Robertson said. “The government has a duty to investigate and shut down all cyber attacks, interference with ISPs, and hacking so that freedom of expression and the right to receive information is preserved.” 1 May 2013.
Souce: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/01/malaysia-violence-cyber-attacks-threa...
