TV3 site hacked in protest against Israeli army

TV3 found itself a victim of hackers today after its website was modified without its knowledge.

The regular site was replaced by a page protesting at Israeli actions against Palestinian people.

The hacker, claiming to be from Iran, placed a number of images on the page, including a soldier holding a gun in front of a woman with two children, and what appeared to be images of dead bodies.

A spokeswoman for the television station said the changes to the site were discovered internally earlier today, and that the website had been taken offline. The IT department was investigating the attack, she added.

The site is expected to be back online today.

The attack on TV3 is the latest in an escalating number of website defacements. A study by Infosecurity Europe and Zone H, published in April, says there were almost 400,000 web server attacks and website defacements in 2004, an increase of 36 per cent.

In 2003, the Irish Examiner's website was defaced when an anti-US message appeared on it. Arabic news network Al Jazeeraalso fell victim to a similar attack. Its visitors were redirected to a page bearing a logo of the American flag with the words "let freedom ring".