Student 'confesses' to hacking @PouYingluck
Police say a university student has confessed to hacking into Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's Twitter account and posting messages critical of the government and the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
The student was identified as Ekkawit Thongdeeworakul, 22, a resident of the southern province of Songkhla who is studying in a Bangkok university.
He was tracked down by a joint investigative team consisting of information technology experts from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the police’s Technology Crime Suppression Division, according to ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap.
While being questioned by police, the student confessed to having hacked into the prime minister’s Twitter account (@PouYingluck) on Sunday, the ICT minister said at yesterday’s press conference held jointly with Special Branch Police commissioner Maj-General Panya Mamen.
It took the investigation team only one day to identify the Internet protocol (IP) address of the mobile phone allegedly used by the suspect to fake messages in the PM’s Twitter account, according to the ICT minister. The student admitted to committing the offence without any malicious intentions. "He said that he did it alone and he felt remorse," Anudith said.
The student’s alleged offence – illegal access to protected computer information – is in violation of Article 7 of the Computer Crime Act of 2007. If found guilty, he is liable to a maximum two years’ imprisonment or a fine of no more than Bt40,000, or both.
Anudith said that the prime minister had assigned her representative to file a police complaint on her behalf against the hacker. He added however that the prime minister instructed the authorities to ensure fairness and justice to the suspect.
The ICT minister warned yesterday against similar hacking attempts in the future. He said the ICT Ministry and the police have expertise that would allow them to track down the perpetrators "rather accurately".
In response to criticism that the authorities appeared to act faster on the PM’s case than on the cases of websites posting messages insulting the monarchy, the ICT minister said its officials were working hard on those cases but his ministry had no policy of publicising its activities.
"The ministry calls on those people who make such irresponsible remarks to stop doing so. They are insulting the ICT Ministry and many other agencies – such as the armed forces and the police – which are working together to protect the monarchy," he said.
Yingluck’s Twitter account had been |suspended shortly after it was hacked on Sunday morning. The hacker posted eight messages on her account (Twitter@PouYingluck). Among them were "You can’t protect even your Twitter account. How can you safeguard the country?" and "Education is most important to the country. But why is there a policy for free distribution of tablets instead of a |curriculum improvement or wage hike for teachers?"
