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Alleged Anon arrested for planning gov DDoS attacks

21-year-old could face five years in a Hong Kong slammer

Hong Kong police have arrested a 21-year-old man after he apparently bragged on Facebook of his intent to disrupt several government web sites.

Local cops are not releasing much information except to say that the man was arrested last Friday and later released on bail, with an order to report back in October.

He was cuffed after threatening to launch DDoS attacks against seven government sites.

Section 161 of the Crimes Ordinance states it is an offence “to obtain access to a computer with an intent to commit an offence”, and if found guilty the perpetrator could face up to five years in the slammer.

Although police were tight-lipped, local media reports said the man claims to be part of the local chapter of hacktivist group Anonymous.

"Many protesters are resorting to hacking because normal demonstrations are hampered by public order laws and the police," he told the South China Morning Post.

One would usually expect an accompanying blaze of publicity via social media channels if this were the case, but the group’s @AnonymousAHK Twitter feed has not been updated since 28 April and its Facebook page has little in the way of the usual provocative messages.

In fact, Anonymous activity in the China region has been virtually non-existent since the group claimed the scalps of hundreds of government and business web sites back in April.

For Hong Kong businesses and government institutions the bigger threat at the moment is the more traditional one of financially-motivated cyber criminals looking either to steal valuable IP or blackmail firms with the threat of DDoS attacks.

Last month, Chinese police busted one such gang, which had targeted gold, silver and securities traders in Hong Kong. ®

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