Saudi man hacked government website to congratulate his wife after her graduation

A Saudi man chose not to gift his wife roses or chocolates to congratulate her for graduating. Instead, he hacked a government website to cheer for her success.

The hacker left a sentimental message to his wife on the website of the Saudi Commission of Electricity and Cogeneration. He wrote: “I apologize for the hacking your website, but I wanted to congratulate my wife Bashayir, my partner, after graduating. I wanted to tell her this through your website.”



He added: “I would like to wish everyone luck and success.” However, this wasn’t enough for him as he expressed how he loathed Saudi Arabia passing harsh punishments against hackers with a longer message. “Instead of [Saudi Arabia] passing hard punishments on hackers, you should close any loopholes so you don’t get hacked.”

He also offered his expertise to others: “I wanted to highlight to the owners of the hacked websites that you could contact me via email and I will show you the loopholes I found.” In recent years, Saudi Arabia has decided on different types of punishments to stop hackers. Punishment could include disallowing internet services, imprisonment for one year but no longer than four years, and a possible financial penalty as high as 3 million riyals ($475,000, $800,000).