PKR: Party members may be involved in cyber attack in Julau

PETALING JAYA: PKR members, including election committee personnel, may have been involved in the “cyber attack” which saw the party polls in Julau, Sarawak, called off, says the party’s election committee chairman, Rashid Din.

Speaking to FMT, Rashid said he couldn’t rule out the possibility of the cyber attack being an inside job although it could also have been carried out by outsiders.

He said the tablets used in the e-voting could only be activated with access codes given to election committee personnel in charge of the voting centre.

“If it is not someone from inside, how can they do it? But I’m not sure who.

“If it is an outsider, what is their agenda, unless they’re doing it for fun?” he said, adding that so far there were no suspects.

Yesterday, Rashid said the results of the Julau polls were suspended after four of the 10 tablets used in the e-voting were found to have been compromised with an app known as “Prey” used to delete data from the tablets.

JPP officer arrested

Rashid also said that a JPP officer was arrested in Sarikei after a police report was lodged against him, alleging that he was the mastermind of the cyber attack in Julau.

“I don’t know why he was arrested. He didn’t do anything. He is the top IT officer in the JPP.”

Rashid said those who accused the JPP officer of wrongdoing were involved with a group representing certain candidates.

He added that the party had sent a lawyer to attend to the case and that the JPP will carry out an investigation into the matter.

When asked why the JPP had assigned its top IT officer to Julau, Rashid said this was done because the committee felt Julau was a “hotspot”. He said every polling week, senior IT officers were sent to polling centres.

“We sent him there. He didn’t go there for fun because if something happens on the ground, we will have someone there who can resolve the issue.”

JPP open to reveal tablet log files

Rashid also said the JPP was open to reveal the log files from the compromised tablets as requested by vice-presidential candidate Zuraida Kamaruddin.

“We can check and reveal that. There’s nothing to hide.

“We can reveal who didn’t vote and who voted. We can do so even without them asking.”

He added that the JPP hasn’t decided if the polls will be held again in Julau.