Is this why MH370 went missing? Malaysia government was HACKED on night flight vanished

A GROUP of "extremely active" cyber criminals allegedly launched a hacking attack on Malaysian authorities around the time Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared.

a malaysia airlines planeGETTY

The Malaysian government may have been hacked when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing

The group are said to have attempted to infect the computers of government organisations, including the police and navy, in an attempt to steal information relating to the search of the missing plane.

Other countries involved in the investigation were also targeted, an IT security firm said.

Costin Raiu, of the Kaspersky Lab software security group, said: "There is a cyber-criminal group [that is] extremely active in the Asia-Pacific region - Naikon.

"Following the disappearance of MH370, we noticed a spike in the attacks by Naikon.

They successfully targeted very high-profile institutions in several countries

Costin Raiu

"Its purpose was to get intelligence from the countries which were involved in the search."

He added that the gang had sent thousands of 'phishing emails', which often claimed to contain "updates" or were seeking information about Flight MH370.

It is not known how successful the group had been in obtaining information.

Mr Raiu said: "They successfully targeted very high-profile institutions in several countries."

Flight MH370 was carrying 239 passengers and crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it went missing on March 8 last year.

Last week it was revealed that the search area for the missing aircraft will be doubled if the wreckage is not found within the current hunt zone in the Indian Ocean.

No trace of the Boeing 777 is yet to be found, 13 months on from its mystery disappearance.

Chinese relatives of MH370 still seeking answers

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