News

Teen arrested for hacking into President’s website

29 Aug, 2016

The police today arrested a 17-year-old teenager for hacking into President Maithripala Sirisena’s official website and posting a message calling for the postponement of A-level examinations, the AFP news agency reported.

The unnamed boy was taken into custody under the Computer Crimes Act and on conviction faces a fine of 300,000 rupees ($2,721) and up to three years in jail.

“We traced the hack to his home in Kadugannawa,” a police official said referring to a town about 100 kilometres east of the capital Colombo. “The website was crippled over the weekend after the attack.”

On Monday, the president’s official site was up and running again.

The attacker had removed the home page of the website and replaced it with a demand that the President postpone the ongoing GCE Advanced Level examinations or step down.

Sri Lankan websites had been hacked in the past, but this was the first time that a teenager had been arrested under the Computer Crimes Act of 2007. (Colombo Gazette)

Recommended For You

Feature Image

Australia examines Lankans case

The Tamil refugee Ranjini ? incarcerated when pregnant after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) branded her a security threat ? had the first chance to put her side of the story on Wednesday to a retired judge examining her case, the Young Witness website reported today. In what is seen as the main chance of release for Ranjini and her three sons, the independent review by former federal court judge Margaret Stone comes as supporters are hoping hundreds of protesters will t

08 May, 2013

Feature Image

Annular solar eclipse tomorrow

The first solar eclipse out of the two solar eclipses due this year, will occur tomorrow morning, when the moon covers up the sun. This is an annular solar eclipse where a ring of fire will appear on the solar disk, Prof. Chandana Jayaratne of the Department of Physics, University of Colombo said. ?The eclipse begins at 2.05 am and ends at 8.55 am Sri Lanka standard time tomorrow morning. The eclipse will not be visible to Sri Lanka,? he told the Daily News. This is the most dangerous kind of ec

09 May, 2013

Feature Image

Treasure hunters arrested in Rathota

The police arrested nine treasure hunters in Rathota today, the police media unit said today. The police said that the suspects had attempted to dig for treasure on a private land in the area. All nine suspects were arrested while they were preparing to dig the area for hidden treasure. The police also?seized?a van, two three-wheelers and equipment which were to be used to dig for treasure. The suspects are residents of Kandy, Rathota, Matale and Kaduwela, the police media unit said. The suspect

08 May, 2013