14 DAY TRIAL // Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand, had her personal Twitter account hacked in an attempt to stain the politician's image.
According to the Bangkok Post, authorities are committed to discover those responsible for the hit, the first clues indicating that the attack was launched from a prepaid SIM card installed in an iPhone.
The main suspects are the people who work with the prime minister as Mr Prinya, who is advising Ms Yingluck's IT team, revealed "This case is more about vulnerabilities in people and processes, not hacking. It's about a political agenda."
"If she can't even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country?" read one of the messages from the PM's profile.
Another one claimed "This country is a business. We work for our allies, not for the Thai people. We work for those who support us, not those who differ with us," which clearly indicates that the hack was an attempt to discredit the government, coming from a group pf protestors.
Prompong Nopparit, a government representative, stated "They are also tapping into media under their control, in addition to social networks, to push the claim that Ms Yingluck's sole aim is to help [her elder brother and ousted prime minister] Thaksin [Shinawatra]."
Twitter channels have been used a lot lately in the attempt to denigrate the image of some public figure and in most cases, the attacks were launched by someone who illegally obtained access to the account credentials.
Unlike other hacking operations, Twitter and Facebook hits don't pose such a major concern except when it comes to the image of those involved. Of course, there are some exceptions, as in the case of NBC News where the Script Kiddiez started posting terrorist related news which might have caused panic among the readers.