Hacker attacks police website

10 June 2008 12:18pm

An investigation has been launched after a police website fell victim to an internet hacker, the force said.

Overnight, pages on the site for Bedfordshire Police appeared to have been replaced by different pages.

The first page, which has now been taken off-line, is thought to have shown a skull and cross bones and various symbols including the phrase "hacked by xtobi", a police spokeswoman said.

An address on the website also directed viewers to a games and software website. It is believed the site also showed an animated cartoon of a man carrying a Tunisian flag and some sort of symbol.

It is thought the site may have been hacked by someone from the US.

But on Tuesday a Bedfordshire Police spokeswoman said it was understood that the actual website had not been interfered with, but anyone trying to view it was redirected to another site.

She said: "As a result Bedfordshire Police have closed down the website until this problem is resolved.

"The website is hosted externally, away from all other police systems so no personal or confidential data could have been obtained.

"Bedfordshire Police take security extremely seriously, which is why the website is hosted independently and outside all other IT systems."

The spokeswoman said a full investigation had been launched into how it had happened.

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