Al Jazeera news network was the victim of a cyber attack again this week, which resulted in sending false messages to mobile subscribers only four days after Syrian regime loyalists hacked into the website.
After sending out three stories, including one related to an alleged attack on the Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bini Jabor Al-Thani, the network announced on its website that its mobile service had been hacked.
The channel explained: "The story claiming that the Prime Minister has been the target of an assassination attempt in the royal palace is completely false and was a result of hacking of the service.”
On the network’s Arabic website, they noted that the messages had nothing to do with the network, and were false messages, sent by the hackers.
The Syrian Electronic Army has now claimed responsibility for the attack.
Social networking sites picked up the reports, which also suggested that HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned had been injured in the attack.
The network then took to Twitter to declare the reports false, and explain that the service had been hacked.
The development came four days after the network was attacked by pro-Syrian regime hackers, who broadcast pro-regime slogans and decried the Qatar-based news channel for their “spread of false news.”
Al Jazeera has become a target for Assad loyalists as Qatar has consistently expressed supported for the opposition and applied pressure on the regime. Pro-regime members have said that the news network has joined forced with western outlets to spread lies about the situation in Syria.
Source: DCMF
