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Independent and Telegraph websites ‘hacked’ by Syrian Electronic Army

By Press Gazette

The Independent, Evening Standard and Telegraph websites were reportedly hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army today.

The Independent, which had both its main website and the i100 targeted, said sites using the Gigya comment platform were affected.

It said that the Gigya platform itself was not hacked and reported experts as saying “no user data is or was in jeopardy”. The Independent said the hackers entered the Gigya system at GoDaddy, the domain registrar that manages domain names.

Some users when clicking on the websites would have been met with a message saying: “You’ve been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army”.

Other titles affected included the Chicago Tribune, CNBC, Forbes, Time Out, National Geographic, NBC and OK Magazine, according to the i100.

A tweet from the Telegraph after the hacking said: "A part of our website run by a third-party was compromised earlier today. We've removed the component. No Telegraph user data was affected."

The Syrian Electronic Army is believed to have previously hacked Twitter accounts of The Guardian, BBC and other media organisations.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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