Singapore PM says hacking incidents cannot be condoned

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday that hacking incidents cannot be condoned as they are malicious and harmful.

"It is not a prank when someone hacks websites and intrudes into computer systems. It is in fact, a criminal act," Lee said at the 13th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting.

The prime minister said that hacking, at a minimum, causes inconveniences to the public, and that "potentially, it has much graver consequence -- damage to infrastructure and danger to lives, for example, if the computer systems hacked control the electricity grid, or are a hospital management system or banking system."

Lee also urged citizens to speak up against hacking and those who support or encourage the perpetrators.

The comments came after apparent attempts to bring down the information infrastructure of the Singapore government agencies in recent weeks, some of them allegedly in protest against a new licensing scheme for influential news portals. Several suspects have been identified in investigations or charged in court. Lee said the courts will deal with the culprits to "the full extent of the law." Singapore is not the only country targeted in the hacking incidents, with some carried out under the banner of international hackers collective Anonymous. Thailand and the Philippines have also reported website hacking cases recently.