PETALING JAYA: A hacker group has threatened to attack the www.malaysia.gov.my website.

The group, which calls itself Anonymous, said it will launch the attack at 7.30pm GMT on Wednesday (3.30am Thursday Malaysian time) and has named it “Operation Malaysia.”

It posted the threat in a graphic on this website, http://i.imgur.com/PTFWh.png.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at the F-Secure Corporation - a computer security software company based in Helsinki, Finland - tweeted about the threat at 4.42am Malaysian time.

No other details were available at this time. It is also not known why Anonymous has targeted the Malaysian website.

Hacker group Anonymous threatens to attack Malaysian Government website.

But there has been an uptick in “hacktivism” these past weeks, where hacker groups have targeted various organisations for political purposes.

Hackers have attacked the International Monetary Fund and Sony PlayStation Network, as well as the networks of aeronautics company Lockheed Martin Corp and Citibank in North America, amongst others.

Anonymous was blamed for the hack into the PlayStation network but a spokesman for the group has denied involvement, saying that its aims are political. Spain, however, has arrested three suspected members of the hacker group for that attack.

Anonymous apparently comprises a vast number of hackers in various countries, who have been organised into cells that share common goals. They operate anonymously but in a co-ordinated fashion.

Meanwhile the AP reported from New York that a group of hackers has gained access to the websites of the U.S. Senate and video game company Bethesda Softworks, the latest in a series of cyberattacks plaguing a broad range of online victims.

The group, which calls itself Lulz Security, posted what it called a "small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data" from Senate.gov on its website on Monday.

Likely referencing reports that the Pentagon is considering whether a cyberattack could be considered an act of war, the group also wrote "is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?"

A representative from the office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms did not immediately return a phone message for comment Monday afternoon.

File - In this May 15, 2011 file photo people wearing masks often used by a group that calls itself "Anonymous" take part in a rally in Madrid. Spanish police arrested three suspected computer hackers that allegedly belonged to a loose-knit international activist group that has attacked corporate and government websites around the world, authorities said Friday June 10, 2011. A National Police statement identified the three detainees as leaders of the Spanish section of a group that calls itself "Anonymous." - AP

Bethesda acknowledged the intrusion in a blog post Monday, saying hackers may have gained access to users' names, email addresses and passwords. The company said no credit card data or other financial information were compromised.

Josh Shaul, chief technology officer at database security software maker Application Security Inc., said the data Lulz posted is "verifiable proof" that it was able to gain access to and take control of the Senate's website.

"It's a very skilled group," he said. "They claimed it was easy."

Lulz Security has also recently claimed responsibility for breaking into the websites of PBS, Sony Pictures, Nintendo and others. Meanwhile, it's unclear who was responsible for a recent cyberattack on the International Monetary Fund's computer system or the one on Citibank that stole about 200,000 credit card account numbers, customer names and email addresses.

Shaul said the recent string of attacks take advantage of insecure systems. While companies are protecting the perimeter of their computer systems, once hackers get in, "everything is there to own," he said. It's the equivalent of a bank putting a guard at the door and leaving all the money in a pile instead of in safes and vaults, he added.

"We've created this situation where it's so easy for a skilled attacker to break in and get data," Shaul said. "They are doing it because they can."

Bethesda declined to comment beyond its blog post and did not say how many users were affected.

In Twitter messages, Lulz (Internet-speak for laughs) said it has had information on more than 200,000 users "for weeks" and broke into Bethesda's website more than two months ago. Bethesda, meanwhile, said that a hacker group "attempted an unlawful intrusion" over the weekend.

Lulz said on its website Monday it is not releasing information it has on the 200,000-plus users.

Bethesda, behind games such as "Brink" and "Fallout: New Vegas," is a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media Inc., based in Washington, D.C.

Related story: Hackers break into U.S. Senate computers

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