Mathew John Hutchison, allegedly part of the Anonymous charged with the revenge hacking of Australian intelligence agency websites ASIO and ASIS.
Australian police produced Mathew John Hutchison at Melbourne Magistrates Court this week and charged him of egging and abetting Indonesian hackers to attack the websites of Australian Signals Directorate (ASIO) and ASIS.
Hutchison is believed to belong to the Australian chapter of Anonymous hacker collective and was taking part a operation by Indonesian hackers against Australia after a news surfaced that Australian embassy in Jakarta was allegedly used for spying on Indonesian citizens including its President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The Snowden leaks which were published by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Guardian Australia in November 2013 stated that Australian intelligence tracked Yudhoyono’s mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009, monitoring the calls he made and received.
The Indonesian hackers took umbrage against this snooping and rallied under Anonymous Indonesia to start a operation called #OpAustralia under which they allegedly attacked and DDoSed prominent Australian websites including Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). It also allegedly took down over 170 Australian websites belonging to small businesses.
Australian police alleged that the 21-year-old Hutchinson who resides in Melbourne’s western suburbs made contact with the Anonymous Indonesia and other Indonesian hackers and supported them in attacks against Australian websites.
They further allege that Hutchison also published a video urging the Indonesian hackers to target the ASIO, ASIS and the Australian Signals Directorate websites instead of the other websites.
“You have defaced many innocent Australian websites in an effort to protest against the Australian Government and their spy agency, ASIO. Innocent businesses should not be attacked. We all bound together in an effort to bring down our tyrant governments to shape our world as a better place. We bid you, as a fellow brother to focus on your main target — governments and spy agencies and leave the innocent bystanders out of this. If you choose to disagree then you should feel the full wrath of our fellow legion.”
Hutchison then allegedly published a second video which gave a “final warning” to Anonymous Indonesia in which they were again allegedly urged to attack ASD, ASIO and ASIS websites instead of private websites belonging to Australian citizens
Police allege that after publishing this video, both the ASIO and ASIS websites were attacked and brought down for varying periods of time. They also also alleged that Hutchison gave further instructions via another website to the Indonesian hackers.
Australian police have charged Hutchison with “urging unknown person to commit an offence of causing an unauthorised impairment of electronic communication to or from a computer,” and possession of a laser pointer.
Hutchison’s trial will start from April 8, 2015.
