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UK Media Websites Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army


A photo of some of the U.K. news sites attacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014.
A photo of some of the U.K. news sites attacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014.

The websites of several British media organizations were hacked on Thursday in a suspected coordinated attack by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), an amorphous hacker collective that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Among those hit were the London newspapers Daily Telegraph, Independent and Evening Standard, which reported that other news organizations had also been targeted.

The SEA posted on its Twitter feed: “Happy thanks giving, hope you didn't miss us! The press: Please don't pretend #ISIS are civilians. #SEA”

“A part of our website run by a third-party was compromised earlier today,” the Telegraph said on its official Twitter feed. “We've removed the component. No Telegraph user data was affected.”

Users attempting to access certain parts of the papers' websites found a message that read “You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)” and were then redirected to the group's logo, an image of an eagle bearing the Syrian flag and a message in Arabic.

The websites of companies such as the New York Times, the BBC and Microsoft have been targeted by the SEA in the past, as have Twitter accounts of other media organizations.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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