Minister raises alarm over increasing ‘fake news’ and hacking
The Minister of Digital Economy, Buddhipongse Punnakanta, held a meeting with the National Cyber Security Committee (NCSC) about the increasing fake news and cyberattacks both within the country and from neighbouring countries.
He said hackers used SIM cards registered in neighbouring countries to try to access government and financial institutes’ data servers every day, including tracking activities via Line application. He warned people against sharing personal data, ID or password.
In addition, the ministry will seek cooperation from telephone service providers to tighten up the process of name registration for SIM cards.
The ministry found that some people involved in the unrest in the deep South owned more than 100 SIM cards. If the service provider lets this happen, It will be difficult to control, the minister said.
Meanwhile, more than thousands of usable registered SIM cards from neighbouring countries are brought into Thailand, which still cannot be verified. The ministry has coordinated and discussed with the foreign service provider to understand the situation in Thailand.
When asked what was the most hacked data, Puttipong said it was mostly banking data, such as customer information systems. Many private companies hack to access the information and use it for their businesses, such as user names and addresses, for their own benefit. The ministry already has set up a team to take care of the matter.