The website of Malaysia Airlines has been attacked by hackers claiming to be from the Lizard Squad, a group that has previously launched dedicated denial of service attacks on several websites and services.
The front page of the website of the airline was replaced with the picture used by the Lizard Squad in their Twitter accounts, which is a lizard wearing a tuxedo. The page also featured text that read "Hacked by LIZARD SQUAD - OFFICIAL CYBER CALIPHATE."
Visitors to the website were also treated to a rap song, which was apparently released last Christmas that automatically plays when accessing the page.
The hacked page also had the headline "404 - Plane Not Found," which references last year's sudden loss of flight MH370, which had 239 passengers onboard.
Reports by the media said that there were some versions of the hacked page that also included the text "ISIS will prevail."
According to a tweet sent out by the main Twitter account of the Lizard Squad, the website of the airlines was attacked at around 11:14 a.m. AEDST, which is around 8:14 a.m. in Malaysia.
After the hack attack, the group announced through their Twitter account that it is planning to release "loot" soon, which are stolen data that the Lizard Squad acquired from the servers that were hosting the website of Malaysia Airlines.
The Lizard Squad teased a screenshot, which appeared to be of the travel itineraries of customers of the airline.
Malaysia Airlines, however, said through a statement that only the DNS system of the website has been affected, which causes visitors to their website to be redirected to the page posted by the hackers.
The airlines stressed that their web servers were not compromised and that its website itself was not hacked, which means that bookings of customers are safe and the data of users remain secure.
The Lizard Squad, as a hacker group, has been active in attacking websites and services. The group has taken down Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live online video game services in the past through DDoS attacks.
ISIS, an extremist Sunni Muslim group, has been able to seize vast regions in Syria and Iraq, where the group has established an Islamic "caliphate."
ISIS has been able to grow its numbers with thousands of fighters from around the world, who have joined the group's anti-Western campaign.
The group has also continuously shocked the world with several videos of the executions of hostage journalists and foreigners, with the most recent one showing the beheading of a Japanese security contractor. A second Japanese hostage held by ISIS is also in danger of facing execution.
It is currently unclear, however, why Malaysia Airlines was targeted by the hack, and if the Lizard Squad is connected to ISIS or is merely an admirer of the terrorist group.
