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US Army website hacked

June 9, 2015

The public website of the US Army was hacked on Monday, forcing a temporary shutdown, officials say. The hackers posted messages slamming the US for training rebel fighters in Syria, but stole no data.

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Man poses in front of on a display showing the word 'cyber' in binary code. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Image: Reuters/Dado Ruvic

"Today an element of the Army.mil service provider's content was compromised," army spokesman Brigadier General Malcolm Frost said in a statement.

"After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily," Frost said.

The website contains information about the US Army intended for the general public, and does not host any classified or personal data, officials said.

Critical messages

In the attack, the hackers posted messages demanding that the US stop training rebel fighters within Syria.

"Your commanders admit they are training the people they have sent you to die fighting," one of the messages said.

A pro-Syrian regime group calling itself the "Syrian Electronic Army" claimed responsibility for the hack, US media reported. The group carried out other recent hacks including on the websites of The New York Times and Twitter.

The hack on the Army's website comes on the heels of another cyber attack some days ago in which the personal information of four million US government workers was possibly compromised.

US authorities said they suspected China of being behind that attack.

tj/bw (dpa, AFP)