Hackers' site Syrian Electronic Army down after NYT attack

Pro-Assad hacktivist group Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), which claimed responsibility for disrupting major news websites including the latest attack on the New York Times site was reportedly taken down by their domain name registrar for breach of contact.

The SEA posted a tweet which read that their domain name registrar Name.com had suspended their account for breach of contact after the NYT attack.

According to Fox News, the hackers set up alternative websites, posting stories about the chemical attacks in Syria after hacking the NYT site.

The Australian company that registered Twitter and NYT's domain names, Melbourne IT had been working to restore the damage done by SEA and the company's CEO Theo Hnarakis said that the hackers used a very sophisticated 'spear phishing attack' on the sites.

Hnarakis later warned the staff of resellers to not use emails for sensitive data exchange as the attackers had sent very dubious emails to one of the resellers who manage the domain names for companies like the NYT.

It was earlier speculated that the attacks came from an Internet Service Provider based in India. However, the rebel group took credit for the NYT attacks dismissing the rumours.

The report said that the SEA has taken credit for attacks on media targets that it sees as sympathetic to Syria's rebels, including prior attacks at the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, Al-Jazeera English and BBC among others.