By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, MAR. 3: The official Facebook account of the Students for a Free Tibet International, the headquarters of the multi chapter activist group based in New York, was hacked by an unknown perpetrator on the eve of Tibetan New Year. The breach however is contained and no apparent damages have been done
On the first day of the Losar (Tibetan New Year) on Monday (Feb. 27), a man posted a live video post late night around 11:30 pm. The hacker used hash tag handles- #syrria #idleb #mohmmed_Al_Yousef while posting the live video.
SFT’s Asia Director Dorjee Tseten who is based out of Dharamshala, told Phayul that the official page of the SFT HQ was hacked, it was found later, a day ago on FEB. 26 while the live video was streamed on the Tibetan New Year. The lapse is now being examined by cyber and Internet experts and professionals at SFT’s disposal and a complaint has also been forwarded to Facebook.
“The incident is not a first of its kind. In the past we have seen that malwares have been sent to various Tibetan establishments and have personally been sent bugged emails. Although no significant damages have been done with the current incident, we are more vigilant and more primed in case of future attacks in the digital platform,” Tsetan told Phayul.
Earlier in 2011, Facebook came out with a figure saying, out of more than a billion logins to the website every 24 hours, 600,000 are impostors attempting to access users’ messages, photos and other personal information. The current incident is more sensitive from a Tibetan perspective as the SFT is one of the largest activist groups that have been carrying out anti China protests and garnering support and awareness to the situation inside occupied Tibet under China. The SFT HQ Facebook page has close to 100,000 followers and page likes with a healthy growth.
Lobsang Gyatso Sither, Digital Security Programs Manager at Tibet Action Institute, told Phayul that Facebook, although a highly fortified site, is not hacking proof, due to maligned apps, links and advertisement which are on Facebook. The two step verification procedure in the security setting of Facebook site as well as keeping a strong password may help keep such attacks at bay, the Tibetan digital professional said.
On the current incident, he opined, “Hacking is generally categorized as targeted or random which is quite self-explanatory. At this moment, it is difficult to say which one it is as far as the SFT incident is concerned.”
Activism for the particular Tibetan activist group is more vitally linked digitally with many chapters spread around the globe. One of the mission statements of the group is to campaign for the fundamental rights of Tibet’s political freedom through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, many of which is conducted on social media sites like Facebook.
According to western cyber experts who have researched on malwares that were found in systems in Dharamshala where the exile Tibetan government is based, origins of the computer virus were from China. In the current incident, China’s link although not proven, remains highly plausible.
Students for a Free Tibet was founded in New York City in 1994 in humble beginnings by a group of Tibetans and young students and supporters. Since then, SFT has grown into an international network of students and non-students in more than 35 countries fragmented into 650 chapters worldwide.
