Alberto Rodríguez and Orian Brito posted images of armed children on their Twitter accounts and have, in the past, been critical of President Chávez.
(IPYS-Venezuela/IFEX) – On January 28, 2012, Alberto Rodríguez, director of online weekly newspaper 6to Poder reported that his Twitter account was attacked after he posted pictures on his account of children posing with assault rifles in the 23 de enero neighborhood in west Caracas.
Rodríguez informed IPYS-Venezuela that he tried unsuccessfully to log into his Twitter account several times. After discovering this he also tried to log in his email account that was associated with his Twitter account, although once again he was not able to log in.
This attack has been attributed to the “N33” group, which has also claimed responsibility for cyber attacks on other public figures.
Two days later, on January 30, a group of hackers allegedly attacked the Twitter and email accounts of journalist Orian Brito. Brito also posted images of the same armed children on his Twitter account and had accused the government of recruiting children for armed militias. Both journalists have, in the past, been critical of President Chávez.
Brito told IPYS-Venezuela that he received the pictures from an informant. He attributed the attack to N33 since they sent messages to him, after taking over his account, saying that “he was warned not to do so”.
The alleged attackers disclosed personal information as pictures and private messages. Brito also had information related to his bank accounts on his e-mail.
Brito says he is afraid of attacks on his relatives, as well as on the person who provided the pictures to him.