There had been more than 200 complaints so far of email accounts and websites being hacked in Sri Lanka in 2012, Sri Lanka national CERT said yesterday.

A spokesman from the CERT told the Daily Mirror that there had been 200 complaints of Facebook hacking and around 10 other hackings this year.

Facebook hacking had been a frequent occurrence in Sri Lanka last year as well with 1,500 Facebook hacking complaints in 2011. In addition there had been 150 complains of other hackings in the same year.

CERT sources said it had not received any complaints from prominent persons in the country including politicians this year.

A national CERT|CC (Computer Emergency Readiness Team|Co-ordination Centre) acts as the focal point for cyber security for a nation. It is the single trusted source of advice about the latest threats and vulnerabilities affecting computer systems and networks, and a source of expertise to assist the nation, in responding to and recovering from cyber attacks.

In anticipation of increased cyber security incidents as Sri Lanka’s IT infrastructure grows, Sri Lanka CERT|CC was established as Sri Lanka’s National CERT, by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). It is registered as a Private Limited Liability Company, and is a fully owned subsidiary of the ICTA.

Sri Lanka CERT|CC usually council the email subscribers whose mail had been hacked on safeguarding their mail accounts and websites from attackers.

However former Deputy Mayor of Colombo Asath Sally said both his website and the email account had been hacked by some unknown person. Accordingly an email had been sent around using Mr. Sally’s name stating that he is stranded in Nigeria and that all his money has been robbed. He said he has requested the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to look into the matter. (Yohan Perera)