Sri Lanka govt Web sites hit in spate of attacks

By Ellyne Phneah | January 23, 2013

Summary: Hacker Davy Jones breaches government sites, including that of Sri Lanka Port Authority site, Bureau of Foreign Employment, and those of two local TV stations.

A hacker on Tuesday breached the Web site of Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA), and also attacked and leaked the Web sites of two Sri Lankan TV channels and the Bureau of Foreign Employment over the last weekend.

According to E Hacking News on Tuesday, the main page had not been defaced, but instead, a Web page with a path to the "admin" folder was uploaded. SLPA is a government agency in charge of the development and maintenance of all commercial ports in Sri Lanka.

The defacement page uploaded to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority "admin" folder. (Credit: E Hacking News)

The defacement page read: "You have been hacked by Davy Jones. We are always here to give boots to asses!"

Other sites hacked, leaked on pastebin

Over the weekend, the same hacker breached the Web sites of two Sri Lankan TV Channels, Rupavahini TV and One SriLanka, and the Bureau of Foreign Employment site, according to aseparate report on E Hacking News.

Davy Jones claimed that he had hacked Rupavahini TV channel's database server and leaked it in a pastebin post. The paste had contained database details and credentials stolen from the target server, including administrator username, e-mail Ids, and password hash with salt.

He also said that he hacked the Web site of One SriLanka, extracting data with 1,000 e-mail IDs and passwords, in a separate pastebin post. The paste also included a mediafire download link that contains the dump comprised from the One SriLanka TV Web site.

Last week, Davy Jones also hacked into the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment's Web site, and leaked the database on pastebin in a similar manner, with the leak containing log-in credentials, including admin IDs and passwords.

These are the latest in a spate of cyberattacks against Sri Lankan Web sites. Last week, the official Web site of Sri Lanka Media Center for National Security (MCNS) had been hacked and defaced by a hacker calling himself Game Over, as reported by news site ColomboPage. He had redirected the Web site to another site and gained access to the servers, taking away and leaking hundreds of log-in information details of site users.

Topics: Security, Data Management

About Ellyne Phneah

Elly grew up on the adrenaline of crime fiction and it spurred her interest in cybercrime, privacy and the terror that exists in the dark side of IT. At ZDNet Asia, she has made it her mission to warn readers of upcoming security threats, while also covering other tech issues. Elly enjoys growing her already-huge wardrobe, photography, the performing arts and planning her travel escapades. She dreams of leaving her footprints all over the world.

Sri Lanka’s systematic cleansing of ethnic Tamils at the worst

Posted by Karthiyayini on January 23, 2013

Colombo/Chennai, Jan 23 (TruthDive): Sinhalese settlers in Paduvaankarai area in Batticaloa district have been illegally grabbing pasture lands with the nod from Colombo’s ruling party honchos.

Cattle farm owners have told Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that if this seizure of lands continue, about 20 to 25 thousand acres of lands would soon be taken away illegally leading in turn to elect a Sinhalese parliamentarian from the district.

Tamil government officials who voice their concern against such land grabs are either intimidated by paramilitary groups by the Sri Lankan Army or they are subjected to sudden transfers.

Violence and sexual crimes against Tamil women are said to be on the rise in Ampaarai district.

As a part of militarization of civil administration, three new camps have been set up by the occupying Sri Lankan Army  in three Tamil Divisional Secretariat divisions, Aalaiyadivempu, Naavithanveli and Thirukkoayil of Ampaarai district causing apprehension and panic among the people.

The Sri Lankan Army occupying Jaffna has inaugurated two new ‘holiday resorts’ at Mayiliddi, and at Kaankeasanthurai,which are under High Security Zone (HSZ), along the northern coast of Jaffna. The ‘holiday resorts’ are meant for use by the Sri Lankan Army officers of all ranks. The Army has made ‘good use’ of the abandoned and barren ‘state’ land given to it, claimed the website of the Sinhala Army occupying the country of Eelam Tamils.

A Sinhala military city is fast developing along with the military camping station, harbour and airport at the HSZ including KKS and Palaali on the northern coast of Jaffna, observers in Jaffna said.

The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) men under Mahinda Rajapakse are grabbing more lands of Eelam Tamils in Killinochchi district to inhabit Sinhala families from South, especially in Chivanakar, Uruththirapuram and along the spill canals of the Iranaimadu Tank according to TamilNet.

Meantime, DMK patriarch Karunanidhi had alleged that 367 Hindu temples have been demolished and 89 Tamil villages have been renamed with Sinhala names in Sri Lanka. In his letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as revealed to media houses, he has charged the Sri Lankan government with destroying Tamil culture, language and the religion in a systematic manner and had urged New Delhi to stop this atrocity immediately as its moral obligation.