Malaysia: Hackers Hit Police Twitter, Facebook Sites

The Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) department says it has fixed its Twitter account and Facebook page after hackers infiltrated the social media sites on Monday and posted a slew of hostile messages, including many promoting the Islamic State extremist group.

A group identifying itself by the Twitter hashtag #AnonGhost claimed responsibility for the hacking incidents, which occurred simultaneously on Monday afternoon (local time) and lasted at least two hours.

“VIVA ISLAMIC STATE !” was one of the messages posted on the RMP’s Twitter account (see image).

The hackers also took over the police Facebook page, replacing the cover image with a banner headline that read “KHILAFAH” – Arabic for “Islamic State” – according to news reports.

In the middle of the banner, a silhouetted figure could be seen waving the black IS flag. To the left, Arabic words were written in the pupil of a person’s eye.

The hacking incident occurred as Malaysian authorities are contending with what they say is a growing threat posed by IS efforts to recruit young fighters from Southeast East for its jihadist cause.

Last month, the police arrested 19 suspects who were allegedly linked to IS and planning to mount separate terrorist attacks on Malaysian soil. As of June 13, 66 Malaysians had traveled to the Middle East to join IS, according to Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Back to normal

The hackers who struck on Monday also posted threatening messages directed at Malaysia’s Prime Minister.

“Najib Razak…. We are coming to you…,” said a tweet.

At around 6 p.m. Monday, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar announced that his department’s social media sites had been restored to normal and the unwanted messages removed.

"Alhamdulilah [Thanks to God]. Facebook and Twitter Police have recovered. Congratulations to RMP’s social media teams," Khalid tweeted on his own Twitter account.

Earlier, Asmawati Ahmad, assistant head of corporate communications at the IGP secretariat, confirmed that AnonGhost was behind the hack. According to the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore, AnonGhost is a pro-Palestinian group.

"Any information released through both platforms until now is not the official posting of the police,” Asmawati said in a statement issued late Monday.