The Thai Court of Justice plans to press charges against anonymous hackers who took down hundreds of websites of the Thai courts in protest to the conviction of two Burmese migrant workers in a double-murder of British backpackers in Koh Tao Island.
On Wednesday, 13 January 2016, Suebpong Sripongsakun, the spokesperson of Thailand’s Court of Justice (CoJ), announced that the Thai authorities will carry out investigation and press charges on a group of anonymous hackers who downed at least 297 sites, some of which are Appeal and Criminal Court's websites on Tuesday night.
Once hacked, an image of a well known white mask of the anonymous group appeared on the attacked sites along with messages say “ BLINK HACKER GROUP”, “ Failed Law We Want Justice ! # Boycott Thailand ”, and “ BLINK HACKER GROUP.”
Blink Hacker Group is believed to be associated with a hacker group called “Anonymous Myanmar Hacker.”
Members of the facebook group called ‘We are Anonymous’ on Wednesday posted a message says #Anonymous shuts down all Thai Court of Justice websites in protest over the #KohTao murder verdict. #Anonymous is supporting the campaign to ask tourists to boycott Thailand "until such time changes are made with the way Thai police handle investigations involving foreign tourists".
The group also claimed that they are planning to release “a huge leak of all Thai officials involved in corruption in Thai Courts.”
Previously, on January 4, the same group of anonymous hackers took credit for carrying out similar online attacks on at least 14 websites associated with the Royal Thai Police.
Despite the attack which caused the CoJ websites to go blank, however, the inner functions of the CoJ agencies are still intact.
According to Suebpong, the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) has tracked down about 10 IP addresses of the alleged attackers which belong to overseas internet users.
He said that the anonymous attackers might face charges under Article 10 and 12 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act (CCA) for causing disturbances in the computer system of public agencies.
Article 10 of the CCA lays out up to five years imprisonment and up to 100,000 baht fine or both as penalty for those causing online disturbances while Article 12 of the CCA stipulates that attackers of computer systems of state agencies might face up to 15 years of jail term and up to 300,000 baht fine or both.
On 14 December 2015, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, two Burmese migrants were convicted of rape and murder and were handed down death sentence.
The Thai court cited DNA evidence as primary evidence on the case. However, the ruling was much criticised by those who believe the two migrant workers were scapegoats.
Earlier this week, Laura Witheridge, sister of one of the the Koh Tao murder victim, Hannah Witheridge posted a message on her facebook profile saying that the Thai police are corrupted and that their investigation leading up to the conviction of two Burmese migrants were “bungled.”
After the message was posted, Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, the Royal Thai Police Chief, threatened to file lawsuits against Laura for defaming the Thai police.