Asia-Pacific

Malaysia Airlines website hacked by ‘IS group’

Embattled carrier’s site changed to ‘404-Plane Not Found’ and ‘Hacked by Cyber Caliphate’

A screen grab of the official website of Malaysia Airlines after it was hacked on Monday by a group calling itself the ‘Official Cyber Caliphate’. The website, www.malaysiaairlines.com, currently shows a photograph of a lizard in a top hat and tuxedo, surrounded by the messages ‘404 - Plane Not Found’ and ‘Hacked by Lizard Squad Official Cyber Caliphate’. Photograph: Reuters

Mon Jan 26 2015 - 07:11

Malaysia Airlines officials were struggling to restore the embattled carrier's website after it was hacked by a group proclaiming support for the Islamic State group.

The airline’s site was changed, at first with a message saying “404 - Plane Not Found” and that it was “Hacked by Cyber Caliphate”. The browser tab for the website said “ISIS will prevail”.

Malaysian Airlines is trying to recover from two disasters last year, including the disappearance of Flight 370, which authorities believed crashed 1,100 miles off Australia's west coast.

The website was later changed to a picture of a lizard, with the ISIS reference removed and the claim of responsibility changed to “Lizard Squad - Official Cyber Caliphate”.

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The Lizard Squad group last year claimed it was behind attacks on Sony’s online PlayStation network and Microsoft’s Xbox site.

In August, it also tweeted to American Airlines that there might be explosives on a plane carrying the president of Sony Online Entertainment, which makes video games, forcing the flight to be diverted.

Malaysia Airlines said that its domain name system was “compromised” and users were being redirected to the hacker group’s website. It said it will take up to 22 hours to restore the website.

Agencies

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