"Syrian Electronic Army" defaces NPR website, Twitter accounts

"Syrian Electronic Army" defaces NPR website, Twitter accounts

The main website of NPR and its blog devoted to breaking news were hacked Monday night.

Members of the "Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)" took credit for the hijackings. The hackers were able to change some story headlines with text saying: "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," according to an account on the intrusion from NPR.

The group also claimed to have compromised five Twitter accounts belonging to NPR. The station said it has "addressed" those takeovers.

The SEA, believed to be made up of supporters of the repressive regime of Syrian President Bashir Assad, tweeted: "We will not say why we attacked @NPR....They know the reason and that [sic] enough."

According to NPR, reporter Deborah Amos regularly has contributed stories detailing violence in Syria "and in the course of her reports has told of the hard toll the fighting there is taking on the Syrian people," a humanitarian crisis in which an estimated 70,000 people have died and millions have driven from their homes. The fighting began two years ago.

In the past, the SEA has taken responsibility for other hacks in the United States, including Harvard University.