Posted on June 3rd, 2011Some hackers gained access to PBS’s website on Sunday and discredited it by uploading a fake story concerning the deceased rapper Tupac Shukur being alive and in New Zealand, in the Newshour Rundown section. The personal PBS login information was also taken by the hackers which they placed on various other sites. It has been said that this attack was carried out by hackers as payback for an episode of PBS’s show Frontline. In the episode, the WikiLeaks controversy was highlighted which has been responsible for illegally posting hundreds of confidential US documents.
The responsibility for the attack has been taken by a group known as “Lulz Boat” who in a statement said they were “less than impressed” by the episode therefore they made a decision to “sail our Lulz Boat over to the PBS servers for further… perusing.”
In an interview, Frontline’s executive producer David Fanning stated, “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.”
PBS has released a statement claiming that work to restore the site is currently underway.