Sabah crisis sparks 'cyberwar'

MANILA, Philippines - A hacker war between "cyber armies" from the Philippines and Malaysia has set off alongside the escalating tension in Sabah due to the clashes between the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu and Malaysian security forces.

On Monday, the "Philippine Cyber Army" continued with its onslaught claiming to have attacked 175 Malaysia-based sites including state-owned pages.

Individual Malaysian hackers appeared to have started the attacks on Philippine websites last Saturday, posting online threats and videos meaning to send a message to the Filipinos to keep away from the region of Sabah.

The Malaysian group first defaced the government-owned site of the municipality of Moal Boal, Cebu.

"Bring your ship and take back your dogs. Stop killing Malaysian army and police. Otherwise, we will attack Philippine Government websites," said a message that took over moalboal.gov.ph's homepage on Saturday, signed by screen names of hackers supposedly from Malaysia.

Another message from hacking group "Anonymous Malaysia" was found over several government and private businesses' websites on Saturday, with a message addressed to "All Armed Forces Philippines" to drive Filipinos off Lahad Datu, Sabah, where the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu marched last February to stake their claim on the area.

Almost instantly, the "Anonymous Philippine Cyber Army" and related hackers retaliated starting with a call to the Philippine government to secure its online properties from Malaysian hackers.

"Nalulungkot po ako. Hindi po talaga maganda ang nangyayari. Anonymous versus Anonymous ang kalalabasan," Filipino hackers posted on the same page, referring to 'Anonymous' as a supposedly "united" worldwide alliance of cyberpunks.

The Filipino hacking group then posted a warning video to their Malaysian counterparts and went on to deface about 20 private websites under Malaysia's national domain (.my) on Sunday.

'Peace'

The official Facebook page of Anonymous Malaysia on Monday posted a graphic claiming that they have made "peace" with hackers from the Philippines and vowed not to push through with attacks.

"Let us help both The Philippines and Malaysia unite, not find a reason to fight," the hackers said.

The decision to cease the cyber wars appeared to have been called by the international Anonymous body, urging both groups to "stop" those who have joined the "petty" online counterattacks.

"The petty cyber-war will gain us nothing but wrong impressions from ordinary people. Our goal is to peacefully unite the collective consciousness of humanity," the letter read.