Jewish Chronicle site downed by hackers

Metropolitan Police are apparently investigating an attack on the website of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

The hacker posted pro-Palestinian comments on the homepage and accused Israel of human rights breaches, leading to it being taken offline for 18 hours.

The newspaper noted the flaw that allowed the hacker access has yet to be uncovered, but said it was clear the attacker was based in Turkey.

The Chronicle's editor Stephen Pollard noted in a statement that the attack had an upside. "Only those without the confidence to win an argument resort to such tactics. And it was a pretty self-defeating attempt to silence us. Our site was down for a few hours, but as a result we will get more readers than ever before."

Such politically motivated attacks are becoming increasingly common. Google and China are currently battling it out over hacking, while Twitter and Baidu have both been hit by a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army.