Pro-Cambodian hacktivists launch attacks on Thai government sites amid border dispute

A Cambodian hacktivist group has ramped up cyberattacks against Thai entities following a flare-up in a long-running dispute between the two countries over contested border areas. 

The AnonsecKh group, which goes by Bl4ckCyb3r on Telegram, claimed at least 73 attacks on Thai organizations in the two weeks following a May 28 incident in which a Cambodian soldier was killed in a skirmish with Thai forces, the cybersecurity company Radware said. 

The countries have for decades disagreed over ownership of pockets of land along their 500-mile border, with the 11th-century Preah Vihear Temple the flashpoint of the conflict. The United Nations International Court of Justice has ruled multiple times that the complex belongs to Cambodia.

The hacktivist group first claimed attacks on Thai government websites in March, and expanded their scope to Thai academic and private-sector entities that same month. 

Their attacks typically involve distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns, which flood and often paralyze targeted servers with traffic, as well as defacement. The group reportedly increased its activity after a statement from the Thai army on June 6 that it is “now ready for a high-level military operation.”

Almost half of the observed incidents involve Thai government or military websites, while manufacturing companies account for more than a quarter of claimed targets.

According to the cyber analysis site Hackmanac, between June 4 and June 10 the group claimed to target the Thai Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, among others.  

Last week, officials from Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) reportedly said the hacking group was threatening government entities and that a court had approved two arrest warrants for alleged members who they are trying to identify and detain.