The documents, revealed by opposition lawmaker Chayaphon Satondee during a parliamentary debate last month, describe a coordinated campaign by Thai police and military units operating a joint "Cyber Team" tasked with undermining civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, through phishing attacks, social media manipulation and disinformation. Human rights nonprofit Amnesty International urged Thai authorities this week to investigate claims of state-sponsored cyberattacks against human rights organizations and pro-democracy activists following the leak of internal government documents that seemingly detailed such an operation. “These incidents appear to mark a shift from the use of formal legal tools — such as the Computer Crime Act — toward more covert and asymmetric digital tactics, including digital surveillance, social media manipulation, and reputational attacks,” she told Recorded Future News. In a statement earlier this week, Amnesty said the leaked documents align with patterns it has long observed in Thailand, where digital repression — including surveillance, smear campaigns and harassment — has increasingly been used to silence dissent. Darika Bamrungchok, Southeast Asia policy analyst at digital rights group Access Now, said that this operation, if confirmed, would reflect a broader regional trend of state-aligned actors leveraging digital technologies to suppress dissent and restrict civic space while avoiding direct attribution.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Wed, 09 Apr 2025 16:20:14 +0000