Man jailed 6 months for hacking PMO website and other offences

SINGAPORE - A hacking enthusiast has been sentenced to two months' jail for entering unauthorised computer code into the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) website on Nov 7 last year.

But his total jail term comes up to six months after including punishment for related computer misuse offences, The Straits Times and AFP reported Monday.

A court spokeswoman told AFP that Mohammad Azhar was sentenced on Monday to two months in jail for defacing the prime minister’s office website, and a further four months for other unrelated charges under Singapore’s Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.

The offences included accessing a neighbour's wireless Internet service and modifying social media and e-mail accounts that belonged to Ah Boys To Men actor Muhammad Ridhwan Azman, 21.

Court documents said Azhar had injected a computer code into the server of Lee’s website, www.pmo.gov.sg, causing a section of it to be compromised.

The hacked section, which was removed in the early hours of November 8, showed the message “ANONYMOUS SG WAS HERE B*****”.

“It’s great to be Singaporean today,” read another headline next to Anonymous’s trademark Guy Fawkes mask, a symbol of anti-establishment defiance worldwide.

According to a My Paper report in Nov, the jobless man pleaded guilty on Nov 11 to seven of 59 charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.

His brother, Mohammad Asyiq Tahir, 22, was also sentenced on Monday for computer misuse, reported Channel NewsAsia.

The national serviceman was given 18 months' probation after pleading guilty to five of 11 offences, which largely involved tampering with Mr Muhammad Ridhwan's email and social media accounts. None concerned the PMO website server.

candicec@sph.com.sg