By Ishara Rathnakara
The Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Computer Crimes Investigation Division, of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Chief Inspector of Police S. K. Senaratne, informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya, last Tuesday (30) that investigations are being carried out to track down a suspect who is abroad and is alleged to have assisted in the crime of accessing, without permission, the official website of President Maithripala Sirisena.
The CID also informed the Court that they have identified that the suspect, who is abroad, had assisted the suspect student and young man who were arrested by the CID on 29 August, in connection with this incident, to engage in this cyber crime.
The CID told Court on 30 August that a complaint had been made to the Officer-In-Charge of the Computer Crimes Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Chief Inspector of Police S. K. Senaratne, by the Head of the new Presidential Media Unit, Y. Sameera de Silva on 26, that the official website of the President, president.gov.lk had been accessed without permission and information had been published.
The CID informed the Court that an official website named president.gov.lk was being maintained by the Presidential Media Unit, in order to advertise the President’s services and various other information and the task of publishing information on the particular website was done by the new Presidential Media Unit and apart from them no one else has been granted permission or given the ability to enter information in this particular website.
This website is being maintained in a data base overlooked by Sri Lanka Telecom and information that is entered into the website is carried out by the Presidential Media Unit, the CID said.
The CID also said that, five accounts are being maintained in order to enter information into the website and apart from those five accounts and the computers of that unit, this official website has been created and is being maintained so that no one else can enter information therein.
On 25 August, at about 8.45 p.m. some person had accessed the website without permission and entered data into its data base, the CID further informed Court.
Among this data, the following threatening statement had been made, according to the information presented to Court by the CID, “Do not hold the G. C. E. A. Level in the month of April, listen to the demands of the university students, since an online computer cyber attack can take place make sure to have protection, and if it is not possible to protect the data, the Honourable President should resign.”
Accordingly, under Computer Crimes Act No. 24 of 2007, this illegal access of the website and publishing of information is an offence and the CID said that notes regarding access to the website will be obtained from Sri Lanka Telecom for investigative purposes.
The IP address used to access the website illegally had been identified and the CID said that some of the IP addresses were from overseas. It was also informed that an IP address of the Dialog organization within Sri Lanka, too, which had been used to illegally access this website, had been identified.
The CID said that arrangements have been made to obtain the subscribers’ information in this connection, and informed the Court that an online check regarding this crime was also carried out. The CID said that, during this check, illegal access to more than 37 websites within Sri Lanka had been made and that a Facebook Account named arrow.lk had been identified in connection with altering data. The CID informed the Court further, that an organized gang named Yakadaya Forums on the Facebook website were involved in maintaining the Facebook Account and that they were accessing, without permission, in an organized manner, certain websites and that they were also engaged in preparing the required background for these incidents of illegal access. The Police also said they were able to confirm that, Yakadaya Forums are maintaining other Facebook data pages under the names of RathuUkussa, SumedhaDhanavijaya, and Goyahacker and providing information and software required to enter websites on the internet, illegally.
Therefore, individuals who are maintaining, in an organized manner, access to the Yakadaya Forums illegally, have been identified through investigations. The CID informed the Court that this individual was identified as Karunanayakage Janith Madhusanka, resident at No. 76, Yatiwaharawatte, Alakoladeniya, Negombo Road, Kurunegala.
The CID also informed the Court that this individual was involved in creating websites on the internet and graphic creations and that at present he is resident at No. 52, P. B. Alwis Perera Mawatha, Katubedda, Moratuwa and that according to Clauses 11, 12 and 13 of the Computer Crimes Act, he has committed the offences defined therein and subsequent to confirming this, the individual was arrested as a suspect on the 29 August.
Further, the Police informed the Court that, during a check of the internet, according to the findings that were confirmed, the official website of the President, president.gov.lk had been hacked and entered illegally and information published by the student, who goes by the name of ‘arrow’ on the internet.
The CID told the Court that, this student had illegally accessed more than 37 websites on the internet and as a result of changing and entering data, he had committed offenses under Clauses 03, 04, 05, 07 and 08 of the Computer Crimes Act and subsequent to confirming this, he had been taken into custody on the 29 August.
The Chief Magistrate ordered the CID to report to Court on 2 September, the progress of the investigations being carried out in connection with this incident.
Courtesy:Ceylon Today