Thai Hacker

[Charlesetta Blare]

AThai hacker, who claims to have acquired the personal data of about 55 million Thai people and who has extorted money from about 200 of them by threatening to reveal their personal information on social media, will soon be arrested by Thai cyber police.

Even though the hacker announced the cancellation of the plan to disclose the personal data, in the hope that police would not make the arrest, the minister said that police will proceed because the offenses have already been committed.

This case will be the first to be handled by the Office of the Personal Data Protection Committee, charged with enforcing the personal data protection law under which the offender may face one year in prison and a fine of 5 million baht if convicted.

Chaiwut said that DES Ministry officials have been instructed to help the 200 victims who have been blackmailed by the hacker and to upgrade the security of personal data systems to prevent future hacks.

PORAMIN: I was looking for a way to use my cryptocurrency, Firo (formerly Zcoin), and realized a need to create infrastructure. There were very few developers and not enough infrastructure to support the use of coins at the time. There were only 3-4 primary players like CoinBase in the US or Bitstamp in Europe or Bitfinex. They were still young.

Building an infrastructure platform was inexpensive. Initially, I intended to make it a wallet instead of a coin exchange. I wanted to create a platform where we could use coins. As we developed it, we saw an opportunity for Firo to be used worldwide.

In a week, there were only 1-2 people who signed up. We expected at least ten people to sign up in the first week. The two people who signed up did not even use the platform. Our platform was a social wallet for people to transfer cryptocurrency to each other. But instead, they signed up to deposit Bitcoins. What we thought would happen and what actually happened were different.

We paused to see what the market wanted, and that is when we learned that the market was more interested in trading. So, we changed from developing a wallet to becoming an exchange platform. But we did not throw away the social wallet. We only changed the concept.

Instead of a social wallet, we built a simple deposit and transfer function. Eventually, we came up with Satang App and Satang Pro. For Satang App, one could use Firo to make payments at any store with a QR code or PromtPay. PromptPay is a Thai money-transfer service connecting most Thai banks and allowing people to transfer money between bank accounts using only their phone number or national ID number.

After I registered Satang Corporation as an exchange platform, we needed to scale up and hire more developers. So, I needed to raise funds. I, therefore, changed the organizational structure of Satang Corporation. The new entity is called Thai Digital Asset Exchange (TDAX). We received five million baht from investors with whom we had developed Firo.

That senior was interested in hacking and was a developer as well. He was one of the leading programmers who used PHP programming or coding language. He also wrote websites about hacking. He taught a course about hacking and suggested I study it. In the course, he taught me how to hack Windows, which has kept me interested in hacking until today.

After school, I would look at many websites to see if they had any vulnerabilities. It was learning by doing, which was my way of learning new things. Most of the things that I have learned were not taught in the classroom. I had to master them on my own.

I always wanted to be a hacker, and I felt that I needed to study abroad. I went to Johns Hopkins University and majored in Security Informatics after learning English. My parents had to take a loan so that I could undertake those studies. This university was one of the top 10 most expensive universities in the US.

PORAMIN: My interest in hacking started after I played a game called Red Alert. To get unlimited money for in-game purchases, I had to install additional programs to help me earn money. I was quite curious to know how one could hack the game, but no one knew how to create it. So, I was super interested and wanted to create it myself. I did not want to be just a user.

PORAMIN: Although learning by doing is a great way to learn, it does not give you 100% knowledge. You grasp more by teaching others. For me, the best way to learn is by reading, doing, and teaching.

PORAMIN: First, make sure you understand that cryptocurrencies are very risky. Do not invest unless you have money that you could bear to lose. Be prepared for extreme volatility. A straightforward way to invest is to buy only Bitcoin. Another alternative is to diversify into the top 10-20 cryptocurrencies.

Depending on your preference, you can also categorize your cryptocurrency investment into sectors, such as energy-related coins or infrastructure coins like Ethereum, Algorand, and Cardano. Or maybe privacy-related coins, such as Monero, Zcash, and Firo.

PORAMIN: I think it will be more professional. If you look at seven years back to 2013, everyone was new to the concept. It was like everyone loved technology and tried to make it a business.

But in the future, crypto will rise to the next level as it has moved from being for hobbyists to becoming a more serious business. In the future, I expect that crypto will be something that everyone has access to.

DISCLAIMER: This content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Readers should not consider statements made by the author(s) as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies. The author(s) cannot be held liable for any actions taken as a result of reading this article.

Hackers saying they are protesting the passage of a bill restricting internet freedom have been attacking Thai government computer servers, temporarily disabling public access and reportedly copying restricted documents.

A Facebook group called for people to deny access to government sites by repeatedly reloading them, a simple version of a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack. The tactic apparently forced the Defense Ministry website to be temporarily offline Monday. Other reported targets included the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Prime Minister's Office and the Office of the National Security Council.

'blackplans,' a hacker identifying himself on Twitter as part of the informal activist network Anonymous, posted screenshots Friday of what he said were documents taken from government websites in protest.

"The bill is very broad and open to interpretation and we will have to see how the government will implement these laws," said Arthit Suriyawongkul of the Thai Netizen Network, which promotes online freedom.

The bill was approved by the military-appointed legislature in a unanimous vote last Friday despite significant opposition. Critics say the new legislation could be used to silence critics of the military regime, which overthrew a civilian government in 2014.

"This is cyber warfare, which means damages and losses are inevitable," said the Facebook group that urged Monday's attacks, Citizens Against Single Gateway. "This (internet bill) vote was like a coup against the online world and these are the counter measures against that coup."

Activists are also concerned about plans for a single gateway through which all international internet traffic would pass. The government claims such a system is necessary for national security, but opposition from many sectors has made the government evasive about whether it plans to implement a single gateway.

"We are concerned by amendments to Thai legislation that could threaten online freedoms, and call on the Government to ensure the country's cyber laws comply to international human rights standards," said the U.N. Office of Human Rights in a statement Monday.

"They couldn't do anything because we have defense systems in place that are ready for such situations," said Kongcheep Tantrawanich, a Defense Ministry spokesman. He warned against further attacks, saying that "destroying financial systems, banks, transportation systems, and airports, can cause damage toward the population of an entire country."

Anonymous is targeting the Thai police in protest over the conviction of two Burmese men for the murders of two British backpackers in Koh Tao. The group believes a rigged investigation scapegoated the migrant workers in an effort to make sure tourists aren't dissuaded from visiting the island. The two men are facing a death sentence. "Anonymous would like to see the Thai government allow foreign police investigators have more power and control over serious rape and murder cases in Thailand that involve foreigners," the coalition of hackers wrote in an essay uploaded to Pastebin.

Thailand has one famous (non-alcoholic) drink, and this is it: Thai iced tea. The orange coloured sweet concoction is so good it feels like it should be dessert. A lot of times I find restaurants make it too sweet, so I actually prefer making my own so I can make it exactly how I want it. If you love Thai tea and you're a coffee drinker, you're also going to love this easy Thai iced coffee!

The iconic orange colour is nothing but orange food colouring. I know...it's not the exotic tea made from secret Thai ingredients that you might have thought. But this is not a gourmet tea, it's supposed to be the cheap and cheerful tea for the average Thai!

So the popular Thai iced tea is brewed from Thai tea leaves, and has sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk added for creaminess and sweetness. There are other kinds of iced teas made from Thai tea leaves, such as this Thai lime iced tea that is super refreshing and is actually my personal favourite!

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