Hackers take out Malaysia Airlines website
The official website of Malaysia Airlines was hacked on Monday by a group claiming to support terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS). The group calls itself Lizard Squad - Official Cyber Caliphate.
On Monday morning the Malaysia Airlines website showed an image of a Malaysia Airlines plane and a message that read "404 -- Plane not found". This refers to a common error message on the internet and possibly also to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in March last year.
Official Malaysia Airlines website has been hacked by group claiming to support ISIS: http://t.co/TzIEbNTKnd pic.twitter.com/FyrKc88j5q
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) January 26, 2015
The homepage later changed to a black background with a picture of a lizard in a top hat and a monocle. The Twitter account @lizardmafia was also listed on the homepage. This Twitter page largely consists of asinine posts.
The airline announced on its Facebook page that its internal servers, which contain passenger information, had not been compromised. According to Malaysia Airlines, the issue has been resolved and the system is expected to be fully recovered within 22 hours.
[MEDIA STATEMENT]: User data is secured. 26th January 2015. http://t.co/HcqKZVAez9
— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) January 26, 2015
The hackers claimed on their Twitter account that the airline is lying about user data not being compromised.
https://twitter.com/LizardMafia/status/559596325243981824
Malaysia Airlines were not available to comment on the hacking, but have instructed customers to make bookings via a different link on Twitter.
You may experience difficulty accessing our website. We are currently working on resolving the issue. To book fares: http://t.co/tV2iIvlYxt
— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) January 26, 2015
This is not the first time that the Cyber Caliphate has struck. The Twitter account and YouTube channel of the American Federal Armed Forces were previously also hacked by the group, NU reports.
