PETALING JAYA: The US-based Environment News Service (ENS) has blamed the Malaysian Government for a cyber attack that caused its website to go down, according to an AFP report.

It said the attack came after it ran a story about plans to publish Lukas Straumann’s book Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia, which accuses Sarawak governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud of graft and deforestation of the Borneo rainforest during his tenure as chief minister.

The book in question has already been published and is on sale.

ENS editor-in-chief Sunny Lewis claimed that the attack originated from an Internet Protocol address belonging to a Malaysian government entity. It also claimed that a law firm representing Abdul Taib demanded that it not publish the story.

The Malaysian Communications and Multi­media Commission (MCMC) said it was looking into the matter.

“If it’s classified as cyber-hacking, we are willing to work with the police if requested,” said MCMC senior director for strategic communication Sheikh Raffie Abdul Rahman.

ENS is a daily international wire service established in 1990 by Sunny Lewis and managing editor Jim Crabtree. The company is independently owned and operates under the direction of the founders.