Hackers Target Thai Government Over Censorship Allegations

Infamous hackers Saadi and Hax.r00t have targeted two sites owned by the Thai government, allegedly to protest its online censorship policies.

The attack saw the two hackers target a Thai government website, defacing several of its pages. The defacements made contained an air of humour, with one of the more prominent changes making the site list Hax.r00t as the country's president and Saadi as its Prime Minister.

The attack comes after fresh allegations broke that the Thai government was blocking access to sites containing negative comments about the royal family. The allegations re-emerged from the Thailand Business News on Tuesday.

In its report the website suggested that the country's Ministry of Information and Technology was investing all its resources in a coordinated censorship campaign. Specifically, the publication suggested that the ministry had already blocked access to over 70,000 internet pages since 2008.

"Technicians in the war room have blocked 70,000 Internet pages over the past four years, and the vast majority - about 60,000 - were banned for insults to the monarchy, according to Mr. Surachai. (Most of the other pages were blocked for pornography.)" Read Thailand Business News' report.

The Royal Family in Thailand are treated as semi-religious figures, with public comments against its members often carrying jail sentences. The Thai embassy has not responded to the International Business Times UK's requests for comment.

Believed to be from Pakistan, Saadi and Hax.r00t have become infamous in certain online circles. The two have been associated with attacks on sites across the world having recently enacted similar defacements on sites owned by the Argentinian and Bangladeshi government.