Singapore police identify six men in 'Anonymous' website hacking case

Five local men are being held for allegedly hacking the websites of Singapore’s president and prime minister, police said on Tuesday, amid a rash of cyberattacks in the city-state.

Police said in a statement the alleged hackers had “exploited a vulnerability” in both websites to display pages from other sources last week.

A “subpage” of the website of the Istana, the official residence of President Tony Tan, was hacked and displayed a crude image early last Friday, an hour after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s website displayed mocking messages from international activist hackers’ group Anonymous.

Police said the five suspects are local men aged between 17 and 45.

Another Singaporean, 35-year-old James Raj, was charged in court earlier on Tuesday with hacking a local council’s website and posting an image of a Guy Fawkes mask, the international symbol of Anonymous.

Raj was charged with hacking into the website of the Ang Mo Kio town council, a district whose team of MPs representing it in parliament is led by Premier Lee, on October 28, and posting the image.