Cyberattack Paralyzes Myanmar Days Before Elections

Hugh Collins Contributor

AOL News
(Nov. 4) -- A massive cyberattack paralyzed Myanmar's Internet infrastructure, l
ess than a week before the country's first election in 20 years.
The attack began late last month and has overwhelmed the country's Internet infr
astructure, closing Internet cafes and making it impossible to communicate with
IP addresses inside the country, according to media reports.
Foreign media are not allowed into Myanmar to cover the election.
"Our technicians have been trying to prevent cyberattacks from other countries,"
a spokesman from Yatanarpon Teleport told Agence France-Presse.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is due to hold elections on Sunday. Many fear
this cyberattack may be an attempt by the country's military rulers to undermine
the elections and maintain their grip on power.
The last elections were held in 1990, handing a massive victory to the National
League for Democracy. The military ignored the results and never allowed the NLD
to take power.
"I'm not surprised to hear that the Internet is grinding to a halt," David Mathi
eson, a Myanmar researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, told The Asso
ciated Press.
"It's a slow squeeze," Mathieson said. "They're slowing everything right down so
the potential for negative information to come out is greatly reduced."
Governments across the world have grown increasingly concerned in recent years a
bout the potential for cyberattacks, known as a distributed denial of services,
to cripple a country's infrastructure.
The attacks rely on hijacked computers across the world. The hackers infect the
computers with a virus, allowing the hackers to control them.
These computers bombard the target with information, overwhelming its Internet c
onnections.
Myanmar is being bombarded with "several hundred times" more information than is
needed to effectively shut down its terrestrial and satellite links, according
to security company Arbor Networks.
There is no hard evidence about who is behind the Myanmar attack.
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Craig Labovitz of Arbor Networks said that a range of factors has motivated prev
ious attacks worldwide, including "politically motivated [attacks], government c
ensorship, extortion and stock manipulation."
The country has a track record of Internet incidents. The military junta cut Int
ernet connections during the September 2007 uprising, when monks marched through
the streets in anti-government protests, according to Democratic Voice of Burma
.
In September of this year, some Myanmar media organizations suffered attacks on
the anniversary of the uprising, according to AFP.
"Although they said the connection has been attacked, it's hard to believe. I th
ink they have been doing it intentionally for the election day to delay news rea
ching the international community," Kyaw Kyaw, a 25-year-old university student
in the main city Yangon.