Singapore PM's website hacked by 'Anonymous' activist group
Mocking messages and pictures uploaded by 'Anonymous' internet freedom campaigners
The websites of Singapore's president and prime minister have been hacked after it vowed to crack down on activist group Anonymous, which is demanding greater internet freedom in the city-state, officials confirmed yesterday.
A "subpage" of the website of the Istana, the official residence of President Tony Tan, was "compromised", telecommunications officials said.
The hacking happened about an hour after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's website displayed mocking messages and pictures from Anonymous, which is demanding the scrapping of rules requiring Singapore news websites to obtain annual licences.
The rules, which came into effect in June, have sparked anger among some bloggers and activists who say they are designed to muzzle free expression.
While the defaced section of the Istana website had been take offline by early afternoon, screen grabs widely circulated on social media showed the image of a stern-looking elderly woman raising a middle finger.
It was accompanied by the words "JIAK LIAO BEE!", a mildly offensive term in Hokkien, referring to people who get paid for doing nothing.
Unlike the hacking of the prime minister's website, there was no indication of the involvement of Anonymous in the attack on the Istana page.