Thai ex-manager confesses to hacking Nonthaburi mall system in revenge
A former network manager of a shopping mall in Nonthaburi confessed to hacking his former employer’s computer system after being dismissed, saying he acted out of anger but did not expect the attack to cause more than 10 million baht in damage.
A representative of the shopping mall filed a complaint with Cyber Police in January, reporting that the company’s computer and data system were hacked. All monitors linked to the system went dark and displayed the message, “CIO Get Out!” referring to the mall’s chief information officer.
Company staff tried to investigate and restore the affected systems but were unable to resolve the problem. After 12 hours, the system administrator managed to change the administrator password and restore operations. The company said the incident caused losses of more than 10 million baht.
Cyber Police tracked the suspect and identified him as Somjade, a former senior network manager who had previously been removed from his post. Officers gathered evidence before raiding his home in Bangkok yesterday, April 9.
Somjade admitted hacking the Nonthaburi mall hacker case, telling police he acted because of personal dissatisfaction with the management team and intended it as a prank. He said he had not expected the damage to be so severe.
The hacker was charged under Section 5 of the Computer Crime Act for unauthorised access to a protected computer system. The offence carries a penalty of up to six months in prison, a fine of up to 10,000 baht, or both.
He also faces a further penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both under Section 9 of the Computer Crime Act for damaging, destroying, modifying, altering, or adding to another person’s computer data.
In a similar case reported last year, a group of app-based taxi drivers in Phuket asked the provincial governor for help after their ride-hailing accounts were hacked. The hackers took control of the accounts, locked the drivers out, and demanded payment to restore access.
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