A 36-year-old Indian-origin manhas been jailed for four years and eight months on charges ofhacking computers of at least seven organisations including the ruling party in 2013.
James Raj Arokiasamy, who calls himself “The Messiah”, had pleaded guilty to the charges last week, The Straits Times reported today.
He used software to scan various government servers including those of the Prime Minister’s Office and Elections Department as well as Peoples’ Action Peoples’ Action party (PAP)
Community Foundation, a town council and the City Harvest Church, the management of which is on trial related to fund management.
Many of the sites were defaced with taunts and threats, the report said.
Raj had also hacked a Straits Times blog, and illegally accessed a server that contained bank statements of Standard Chartered Bank clients.
He had displayed “audacious bravado” in his acts, which had caused public alarm and fear, said Deputy Presiding Judge of the State Courts Jennifer Marie.
James Raj used specialised software tools to avoid detection which was a high degree of premeditation, planning and sophistication, the judge said.
The judge added that Arokiasamy used specialised software to avoid detection, which indicates a high degree of premeditation, planning and sophistication. It took the police more than 2,465 man-hours to investigate the attacks.
An additional plea that Arokiasamy submitted citing that he had not acted maliciously was rejected. The Judge agreed with the prosecution that his cyber intrusions were neither amateurish nor committed naively.
“His intention… was to instill fear and trepidation. Given the current climate where international and domestic terrorist security threats are more prevalent than before, a threat to the IT systems (and) cyber-attacks in a highly networked country like Singapore should be visited with exemplary sentences,” the Judge said.