Gov’t should take hacker’s threat serious – Maritime lawyer

A maritime law analyst, Stanley Ahorlu, has advised government to show concern and take steps to separately deal with a ‘hacking’ threat issued by some hackers from Argentina called 'Hackers Patrióticos de Argentina.'

He has also charged government to ensure that decisions taken will not interfere with the Court ruling which ordered the seizure of an Argentine Navy ship, Libertad Frigate.

The official Ministry of Justice website was hacked by the Argentine hackers, to demand the release of the 'Libertad frigate, a School ship belonging to the Argentine Navy' within three days.

Following a court ruling, the Argentine ship has been held at the Tema Port since October 2 in a row over a $300 million debt owed NML Capital, a subsidiary of US hedge fund Elliot Capital Management.

The Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez insisted that the embargo of the ship is illegitimate saying, it cannot legally be held by creditors because of its military nature. The Argentine government has also suggested that Ghana, by this act, is perpetuating war against his country.

The country’s Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman ordered government to by November 13, lift its embargo and acknowledge the Law of the Sea Treaty but the court refused to release the war ship.

The hackers threatened to attack all government websites, banks, stock exchange, all gold and oil companies, energy and water companies among others.

Speaking on Citi Fm on Monday, Lawyer Ahorlu noted that it will be unwise for government to interfere with the ruling of the court since “there are processes by which an entity that thinks it has been undermined should go through. There should be an appeal process or they should go to another jurisdiction to get this thing over and done with.”

He continued saying, “government should deal with the thugs or the criminals who seek to damage our internet infrastructure because of this.”

In a related development, a Hamburg-based UN court, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), will hold public hearings on the case between Ghana and Argentina over the seized navy ship on November 29 and 30, 2012.