The international hacktivist group Anonymous plans to launch a cyberattack against China - including Macau - on Thursday in support of Tibet's pro-independence movement, the director of the IT and Telecommunications Coordination Department of the Judiciary Police (PJ), Chan Si Cheng, told the Portuguese radio station of government-owned broadcaster TDM earlier this week.
According to Chan, Anonymous recently announced in a video on Twitter the aim of the "politically motivated" cyberattack was to protest against the authorities' closed circuit TV surveillance system in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Chan said the attack was scheduled for Thursday, February 13, to mark the day when the 13th Dalai Lama unilaterally declared the Himalayan region's independence in 1913.
Chan said the target of the cyberattack was the nation's Internet-based CCTV surveillance system. He said that users in Macau should avoid using firewalls and VPNs on Thursday, as well as restrict access to their IP cameras.
According to Chan, the police in Macau were recently warned about the impending cyberattack by the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Centre (CNITSEC), an entity authorised by the central government.
The Health Bureau (SSM) announced late last month that its website was briefly attacked by hackers during its ongoing battle against the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) epidemic.
