FREEDOM ON THE NET 2016 MYANMAR migrants stranded in the Andaman Sea and the Malacca Straits.64 The internet was also a medium for intimidation and harassment. Ye Lwin Myint threatened to kill Aung San Suu Kyi on Facebook in February 2016 (see “Prosecutions and Detentions for Online Activities”). Technical Attacks Research published during the coverage period identified attacks resulting in a string of media website defacements dating back to 2012 as having been initiated on military premises. In October 2015, hackers attacked The Irrawaddy magazine’s Burmese-language website twice within a few days. The hackers posted a fabricated story saying then-opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was suffering from ovarian cancer. In a separate attack, the site was hacked and left inaccessible for several hours.65 In November, the Sweden-based cyber security firm Unleash Research Labs released the results of a three-year investigation identifying the group behind the attack, and others timed to coincide with the lead-up to the November 2015 elections, as the “Union of Hacktivists.” The firm said it had traced the group’s activities to a secretive, military-operated network hidden behind two firewall proxies. The attackers compromised the target sites weeks or months ahead of publicly defacing them, and worked to obtain passwords to staff email accounts, according to the report. The firm’s report also detailed the activities of the prominent hacktivist network Blink Hacker Group (BHG), which has claimed responsibility for numerous distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Democratic Voice of Burma over its coverage of the persecuted Rohingya minority in western Myanmar.66 Targeted hacks remained widespread in 2016. High profile public figures were subject to attacks, including top NLD leader Win Htein and the newly elected Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein.67 64 Kyi Naing, “Politician directs death threats at Myanmar journalists,” The Nation, June 2, 2015, http://www.nationmultimedia. com/asean&beyon/Politician-directs-death-threats-at-Myanmar-journa-30261260.html . 65 “Hackers Hit The Irrawaddy’s Burmese Website with False News Story,” Irrawaddy, October 12, 2015, http://www.irrawaddy. com/burma/hackers-hit-the-irrawaddys-burmese-website-with-false-news-story.html . 66 Unleashed Research Labs, “Fighting Cyber Attacks during the Burmese Elections, November 2015, http://unleashed. blinkhackergroup.org/release/ . 67 7 Day Daily, April 20, 2016, http://www.7daydaily.com/story/62602 . www.freedomonthenet.org