Teen held for hacking Sri Lankan President's website to postpone exams

The attack was carried out as a call to draw attention to the varsity students’ problems

Colombo: A 17-year-old student was arrested for allegedly hacking President Maithripala Sirisena’s official website last week, calling for postponement of A-level examinations. The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Sri Lanka arrested the boy, a resident of Kandy, the Colombo Page reported. President’s media division gathered the information on the cyber-attack and reported it to the CID.

Maithripala Sirisena

The student woes
The authorities are now conducting further investigations to arrest a Bangladeshi national also allegedly involved in the incident. President Sirisena’s website was hacked twice last week on August 25 and 26. A group called Sri Lankan Youth claimed responsibility. A message was posted in Sinhala on the site saying that the group was displeased and demanded postponing the ongoing GCE Advanced Level examinations.

“Take care of the security of Sri Lankan websites. Or else, we will have to face a cyber war. If you cannot control the situation hold a Presidential Election. Stop the Prime Minister’s irresponsible work. Look more into the problems of the university students,” the media reported, quoting the message. However, the website was restored later on Monday.

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