MINDEF refutes TikToker’s claim that he hacked into its system

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Defence refuted through a social media post about a TikToker who claimed he hacked into MINDEF’s system in 2013.

“It has come to our attention that a member of public, James Raj Arokiasamy, had claimed to have hacked into MINDEF on a podcast by Plan B which aired on 6 Sep. This is untrue. MINDEF’s systems were neither hacked nor compromised as claimed,” the ministry wrote in a Facebook post on Monday (Sept 11).

The ministry added that it will remain vigilant and keep a “stringent and proactive approach in detecting and defending against potential cyber threats”.

The man who claims to have hacked into MINDEF’s systems goes by the moniker JamesMessiah on TikTok, where he also claims to be “Singapores most ‘beloved’ computer hacker!”

He had said on the Plan B podcast last week that he “hacked into MINDEF and into a lot of government sectors”, adding that what he did caused embarrassment to the Government, “so they kinda covered a lot of it.”

Raj also claimed they had offered him a deal in exchange for dropped charges.

He has continued posting content about his alleged hacking despite MINDEF refuting his claims.

In 2015, he pleaded guilty to 39 charges of computer misuse and one count of drug consumption and was sent to jail for four years and eight months.

Raj had been found guilty of hacking the sites of a number of organisations, including the Ang Mo Kio Town Council, the PAP Community Foundation, The Straits Times blogs and City Harvest Church, carrying out the hacking while he was in Malaysia for several months in 2013. He defaced the pages of the websites he hacked. /TISG

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