Pro-Syria Hackers Attack Amnesty International Web Site

Throughout the day Monday Amnesty International struggled to regain control of the blog section of their web site. An unknown group of Syrian government supporters posted fake article about investigations conducted by Amnesty International within Syria, claiming that rebel groups were committing atrocities and crimes against humanity.

A Washington Post article offered an overview of the struggle to take back the site from the hackers:

Amnesty struggled through Monday evening to delete the posts from its site. According to a spokesman for the group, entries removed by technical-staff members would rapidly reappear on the site over the course of several hours. 

A spokesman from Amnesty International in London said the system on which the blog ran did not contain sensitive data on activists or others. By Tuesday morning, the blog was back to its usual appearance.

This isn't the first pro-Syria hack attack. Tech Week Europe reports Reuters had it's blogging platform hacked twice:

The first incident saw a false posting appear on its blog “purporting to carry an interview with a Syrian rebel leader was illegally posted on a Reuters’ journalist’s blog.” 

Later in the month, a Reuters blog carried erroneous reports of the death of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Syrian Electronic Army is the best known pro-Syrian hacking group and may be to blame.

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9899582@N05
Article first published as Pro-Syria Hackers Attack Amnesty International Web Site on Technorati.