State-sponsored, taxpayer-funded cyberattacks

Amnesty International has called on Thailand’s authorities to “end malicious smear campaigns and cyberattacks on civil society.”

It also called on them “to investigate and take any necessary measures to end cyberattacks against human rights activists after leaked internal government documents showed that Amnesty International was among several civil society groups targeted in a coordinated, state-sponsored campaign.”

It cites documents from a recent parliamentary debate revealing that Thai police and military units jointly run a “Cyber Team” which deliberately sought to tarnish the reputations and undermine the legitimate work of civil society organizations and political opposition members.

These cyber “security” creeps are under a police and military Joint Command Center that, as always, includes the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), nominally headed by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

These cyber spooks claim all this is about “national security” when it is really about serving the establishment and most especially the monarchy. Taxpayer money is used to defend the ruling class.

This cyber unit has “also engaged in phishing attacks and brute-force attempts to access social media accounts.” Among those targeted was the “former Executive Director of Amnesty International’s Thailand office…”

Amnesty International’s Thailand Researcher Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong said: “These cyberattacks are an outrageous assault on Thailand’s civic space. Thai authorities must immediately end these malicious smear campaigns against human rights defenders and activists…”. He added: “The Thai government must take any necessary measures to disclose full details regarding state actors’ involvement and hold accountable all those responsible—whether they are state officials, members of the security forces or private individuals.”

Fat chance. These creeps operate with impunity.

Amnesty International was said to be a “high-value target,” along with “[o]ther international non-governmental organizations, local civil society groups, prominent activists, and pro-democracy figures … including human rights organizations Thai Lawyers for Human Rights and iLaw, as well as young woman human rights defender Anna Annanon.”

The documents explain how the team developed and disseminated fake messages to, for example, portray protesters as violent.

Even more alarming is the evidence that these state agencies involved themselves in the 2023 election, when the “Cyber Team targeted the social media accounts of prominent activists and political opponents, including Amnesty International Thailand’s then Director, Piyanut Kotsan, through attempted brute-force attacks aimed at compromising their online security.”

Of course this has all been denied by state officials. That’s right, as usual, they lied.