After the spate of violent incidents against Pakatan Rakyat in Penang, Kuantan, Teluk Intan and Kuala Lumpur last week, cyber criminals are now targeting Pakatan Rakyat.
Seven Pakatan Rakyat leaders have had their phones hacked this week, with the latest victim being Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad. The PAS leader was alerted by members of the public who received a text message from his phone number which read, ‘Barang siapa yang tidak berhukum dengan hukum Allah, maka dia jatuh kafir, DAP terang2 TOLAK HUDUD & ISLAM’.
Khalid believes a third party has hacked his phone to sent out these provocative messages in an attempt to disrupt the unity in Pakatan Rakyat. He has reported the incident to the Shah Alam Section 11 police station and the Maxis service provider.
An IT expert explained to The Rocket that this form of cyber crime is known as “spoofing”, where a third party sends out messages while masquerading as a particular phone number. The phone that has been “spoofed” is not involved in sending out any messages at all.
Any one with a mobile phones can be a victim of “spoofing” and it is difficult to trace the source of the sender.
Several other Pakatan Rakyat MPs, mostly from DAP, have been targeted by these attacks.
A few days ago, several DAP leaders namely deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy, state exco members Chong Eng and Phee Boon Poh, and Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer had found their phones hacked.
On polling day at Bukit Gelugor, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim Chee Keong had experienced a similar situation, hours before the end of voting, when his phone had delivered a message saying “”DAP has won!!! Bukit Gelugor is ours”.
Sim says he did not sent out this message. He suspects that the motive behind this attack was to lower voter turnout during the by-election.
“I hope the public who received dubious sms-es from us (DAP reps) will report it to our offices,” said Steven Sim.
Police reports have been filed regarding the cases of “spoofing” and Pakatan Rakyat will continue to remain vigilant.
