Image via WikipediaThe officials of PBS have confirmed that a group of hackers took down their network's website, and injected a fake unoriginal post regarding the dead rapper ‘Tupac Shakur’ being alive, residing in New Zealand. The group of hackers involved, also took responsibility for the complaints regarding the hacking of a recent "Frontline" investigative news program on WikiLeaks. PBS made the announcement on Monday morning through its official Twitter account declaring that the website was compromised. The fake published story was deleted by the administration at the same time on Monday morning. The news story was published on the website of the "PBS NewsHour" program, produced by WETA-TV in Arlington, Va.The executive producer of "Frontline" program, David Fannin, stated that he just got to know about the hack attack as of Monday morning, i.e. a week after the "WikiSecrets" documentary was aired in the program. This documentary was produced by WGBH-TV in Boston and faced heavy criticism and skeptical debate programs favoring the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Though according to Fanning, Asange personally thought that the program was fair. He said that getting a hack attack on the PBS after a news program was unusual but "probably not unexpected.” Fanning claimed 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.” He added that "this kind of action is irresponsible and chilling."
The official tweet from the "NewsHour" account stated: "If you missed it: our site has been accessed by hackers. Thanks for staying with us." A group claiming to be LulzSec and "The Lulz Boat" took the responsibility of the attacks, making the claim through Twitter. It also posted additional links showing some other hacks too, also including a video which apparently taunts the network. Moreover, additional insulting messages were also posted on the same Twitter page targeting the PBS program "Frontline."
The group is also blamed to have been exposing passwords and login information for "Frontline" and PBS email ID’s through its Twitter account. Michael Getler, PBS ombudsman, wrote regarding the "WikiSecrets" documentary in these words: "This may be a good thing for Frontline if it suggests that most viewers found the program to be in keeping with Frontline's reputation for fair yet tough reporting."
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