Syrian hacking group attack BBC

SEA activists also hacked AFP and al-Jazeera London - Tom Rollins A Syrian hacking group has broken into the Twitter account of the BBC Weather team, posting tweets praising President Bashar al-Assad and attacking supporters of the two-year conflict against his regime. The group, which calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army, took control of the BBC news feed on Thursday lunchtime, posting: “Long live Assad.” Other posts read: “Hazardous fog warning for North Syria: Erdogan orders terrorists to launch chemical weapons at civilian areas,” and “Scandal: Edinburgh storm warning station decommissioned after maintenance fund diverted to arming Syrian opposition.” Another added: “Saudi weather station down due to head on-collision with camel.” After an hour, the group signed off saying: “Thank for hanging out with us.” A BBC spokesman confirmed the account had been hacked. The Syrian Electronic Army has already hacked a range of high-profile websites and Twitter accounts. In February the pro-Assad group gained control of the Qatar Foundation’s feed, posting anti-Qatari messages and linking Qatari broadcaster al-Jazeera with “terrorism.” Agence France-Presse and al-Jazeera have also fallen prey to online attacks.