Hacker holding personal data of 55 million people is a Thai: Minister

CYBER police now know that the hacker whose pseudonym is 9near and had threatened to release personal data of 55 million Thai citizens is a Thai, Naewna newspaper said this afternoon (Apr. 3).

Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakmanusorn said the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), or cyber police, believes the Thai hacker’s motive is to discredit the agency and they will soon issue an announcement on this case.

“Even though the hacker, whose alias is 9near, has come out to say he/she will not disclose personal information of 55 million Thai people, police have to continue investigating and track down the offender because the wrongdoing is considered to have already occurred, and we cannot give credence to the lawbreaker.

“Moreover  relevant agencies should find ways to prevent this from happening again,” he said.

Regarding which the agencies were hacked, Chaiwut said the hacker must be apprehended first to find out where he got the data from.

However he admitted that agencies that suspected that they had been hacked had informed the Office of the Personal Data Protection Commission and this body is now liaising with cyber police.

He also could not confirm whether the total number of people hit reached 55 million as this is still being examined but there are only a few government agencies that have this many names.

Around 200 people have received threatening messages and concerned agencies are discussing compensation for them. The Office National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has been contacted to block such messages.

Meanwhile AVM. Amorn Chomchey, secretary-general of National Cyber Security Agency, said Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCert) had found out that the cyber systems of many government agencies had been attacked and data leaked. They had been contacted to quickly step up their security.

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Above and Front Page: Representation of a hacker. Above image: Shafin Al Asad Protic from Pixabay, Front Page image: B_A from Pixabay

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