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Department of Education website hacked

29 Jun 2017

If you're trying to access South Africa's Department of Basic Education's website at present, you can't. It's down. And there's a very good reason why.

The Department took to Twitter to announce that its site has been “hacked”.

Our website has been hacked�� pic.twitter.com/ROK4cQChLd
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) June 28, 2017

“A short while ago we discovered that the Department’s website has been hacked,” begins an attached press release, published around 9pm Wednesday.

Things then get gruesome.

“The people who breached the website have since posted gory pictures of decapitated corpses, some of whom are children.”

The presser didn’t go into specifics, but it did make mention of Team System DZ — the group likely responsible for the hack.

South Africa’s Department of Basic Education website wasn’t the only international government site affected this week

The origins of the hacker group remains unclear, but that name is well documented on the internet this week.

According to CNN, Washington State’s Department of Health’s website was hacked by Team System DZ, leaving similar pro-ISIS messages on the site. Departmental and government sites in Maryland, Ohio and New York, USA were also targeted.

In the US-based website hacks, the message left by the hackers was a direct statement to US President Donald Trump.

“You will be held accountable, Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries,” the hackers state.

But the message on the SA Department of Basic Education’s site differs slightly:

Hacked by Team System DZ.
A message to the government, the American people and the rest of the world. Is this the humanity that you claim, or is life irrelevant to Muslims? Do not imagine that these actions against Muslims will pass you and we will forget what you did to the Arab and Muslim peoples all over the world. I love Islamic State.

The Department states that is has requested assistance from South Africa’s State Information and Technology Agency “to deal with the hacking as a matter of urgency”.

“An investigation is underway to establish the source of the hack,” the Department concludes.

Andy Walker

About Andy Walker

Camper by day, run-and-gunner by night, Andy is editor at Memeburn and prefers his toast like his coffee -- dark and crunchy. Specialising in spotting the next big Instagram cat star, Andy also dabbles in smartphone and game reviews over on Gearburn.