Singapore police arrests suspects for attacking presidential palace site

Singapore police on Thursday arrested the two suspects who were questioned over alleged hacking of the website of the Istana, or the presidential palace, the police said. The police said in a statement that the two Singaporeans, aged 17 and 42, were arrested earlier in the day in connection with a report lodged on Nov. 8 by the web administrator of the Istana website. Local media said the suspects are believed to be businessman Delson Moo and student Melvin Teo and that they were believed to have got to know each other over Facebook. The Straits Times said that Moo admitted that he had committed the offense in a moment of folly. "It was purely a stupid mistake," he was quoted as saying. "My hand was itchy and... I got myself into trouble." The police said that they will be charged in court on Friday. If found guilty, they could face a maximum penalty of a 10,000 Singapore dollars (8,000 U.S. dollars) fine and a three-year jail term. Apparent members of international hackers collective Anonymous uploaded a video message in early November threatening to attack the Internet infrastructure of the Singapore government, urging it to reconsider a regulatory framework that requires influential news portals to be licensed. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that Singapore authorities will "spare no effort" to track down culprits who launch cyber-attacks even though they think they can hide behind the internet's veil of anonymity. Following the warning, the hackers attempted to bring down the websites of Istana and the Prime Minister's Office on Nov. 8. Separately, a 35-year-old Singaporean man was charged earlier this month with hacking the website of a local town council.