Cyberattackers hack website of Hong Kong pro-democracy party Demosisto
Pro-China messages posted on young party’s site, with a cartoon of Joshua Wong
The website of pro-democracy political party Demosisto was hacked on Saturday, with pro-China messages appearing on their pages instead of their usual message advocating self-determination.
The attack came as political tensions in the city flared up again, and just weeks after two Demosisto leaders were jailed for unlawful assembly.
An IT expert warned that political cyberattacks would only get more common in future.
At about noon on Saturday, the group, which had been attacked in the past, wrote on Twitter: “Our website is hacked with fabricated ‘patriotic’ messages. We condemn such uncivilised action.” About one hour later, the site was inaccessible.
The hackers’ post on the party’s site depicted a cartoon of Demosisto secretary general Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and listed the core values of socialism. There was also a list of “things to be proud of” and “things to be ashamed of”. Among the latter was “harming your country”.
“Given the political situation in Hong Kong, this sort of hacking of political groups will be even more frequent as we move forward... It’s something we will have to live with,” Michael Leung, an IT expert who works in the banking sector, said.