PBS website hacked, reports on Tupac Shakur alive in NZ
Hackers attacked the PBS website on Saturday night and posted a report that rapper Tupac Shakur was alive in New Zealand. The story was only removed this Monday morning.
The group which called itself @LulzSec on Twitter or The Lulz Boat took credit for the fake news article and also started posting passwords and e-mail addresses of people who belong to different news organizations and other information belonging to PBS. The hackers continued to post defaced pages until PBS finally regained control of the website on 2.30 am, Monday morning.
According to a BBC news report the group of hackers were unhappy with PBS Frontline's report on Julian Assange's Wikileaks website. One message on Twitter said the group was "less than impressed" with the PBS documentary. The program has drawn much criticism from those sympathetic to Assange. The group posted more messages on Twitter with links to lists of passwords and other data.
The news article about Tupac Shakur was posted at 11.30 pm on Saturday on the PBS NewsHour news blog, "The Rundown." Tupac Shakur was a noted rapper who was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996. PBS quickly posted statements that pointed out the article was fake and acknowledged the hack. David Fanning, executive producer of Frontline said that "From our point of view, we just see it as a disappointing and irresponsible act, especially since we have been very open to publishing criticism of the film... and the film included other points of view."
The hackers had attacked other media organizations including Fox News and the "X-factor" television show.
Aside from posting the list of material it had taken from PBS it added in another tweet: "Anyway, say hello to the inside of the PBS servers, folks. They best watch where they're sailing next time."