The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has confirmed that its website was hacked last night by an unknown attacker.
Major Abdul Raheem today confirmed that the MNDF was made aware of an attack this morning after checking its website.
”Currently our website is down, and we are trying to fix it,” he said. ”so far, he have not been able to identify any person related to the case but we are investigating.”
Cyber Crime has become a growing concern to Maldivian authorities of late; especially in terms of the number of minors thought to be involved in practices like hacking.
Earlier this year, Dhiraagu become the latest high profile victim of Maldivian cyber crime after facing continued attacks on its servers.
The Maldives Police Service arrested four individuals suspected of involvement with the January attacks after conducting special operations at addresses both in Male’ and Addu Atoll.
Three of the suspects then arrested were confirmed to be under 18 years of age.
Police said at the time that the country has undergone a number of attacks on both its own and government websites in the last twelve months, which has led to specially trained officers focusing on trying to prevent criminal activity online.
“In previous cases [of cyber crime] we have found it is young people and teenagers that have been involved,” Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam recently told Minivan News. “They often do not demand any reward or payment for the crime, but commit them out of their own interest and amusement.
”It is challenging, because we are treating cyber crime very seriously,” he added. “We are hoping that new regulations will be passed to help prosecute in the future.”
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Well what do you know.
it took Tamil tigers to awaken them to strengthen physically.
I guess it will take a cyber pirate to make them aware of the gaping hole in their cyber DMZ.
I heard that MNDF website is hosted in Unisted States of America.
Even if they host it in US, if the doors are left wide open, hackers will sail through unimpeded.
Its just like a building. If you leave the windows open, thieves would jump in. The web site hosts only give space, (as in a land plot) and the customer builds on it. Even a building like Velaanaage, with unlocked doors are prone to theft. How can you blame Ibrahim Nasir for the theft in a ministry a few days back?
hi,
I am a greyhat.
@Ismail, I totally agree with you about the fact that even if its in US or anywhere hackers can still penetrate through if there is a loop hole.
I am just surprised if this website was that serious or had any 'sensitive information'. Why on earth is it hosted in a shared hosting?
70.86.12.194
amount: 186 websites
its not surprising to see the website hacked as it was running a free cms and its in a shared hosting. Does the Govt not pay hefty amount to keep these servers running? So blame whom? Webmasters?
@Ismail, but please don't give dumb conclusions and ignore security when you can really fix the issue.
You can see even minivannews is in a dedicated server and using a free cms ( wordpress ) ~ Irony is they at-least care 50% for the security. Whereas i see 0% from Mndf.
Wow, this shows Maldives have some great and skilled people in computer field. Why cant we use these people to iniate a technology industry which will help our economy.
If you leave the key on the door, people will be tempted to open it.
who cares if a website is hacked...copy paste a new one to some other space u fyl safe...still it will be hacked & repeat the same hahahahaha
@ibrahimYasir, maldives has got great skilled ppl in computer field. wtf. it doesnt take skill to de-face a website. it takes lot of free time and that is what maldivians have. do a google search and it will tell u step by step on how to de-face websites, run rogue code etc etc.
no matter what ppl think its a crime and those who does it shud be prosecuted not crowned.