Anti-Gaddafi hackers deface Libyan domain registry site

Amid heavy fighting in Libya, hackers defaced the country's top-level domain registry site with a message saying "goodbye" to embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. The defaced site, which was seen as early as Monday (Manila time), was still online as of Tuesday afternoon (in Manila).

A screenshot of the defaced home page of nic.ly, the top-level domain registry of Libya. The hackers behind the defacing also left behind an anti-Gaddafi message.

"[+] HACKED By Electr0n [+] ... bye bye Qadaffi," read a message on the defaced site (nic.ly). The hackers also left behind greetings as well as their "calling card" - libya17fb2011@yahoo.com and anti-hacker@hotmail.com email addresses. However, other parts of the site appeared intact, including the page listing the regulations for the domain registry (http://www.nic.ly/regulations.php). Computer security firm Sophos said that the nic.ly website administers .ly domain names, with ".ly" standing for "Libya." It added the date February 17 relates to when Libyan protesters began their demonstrations only to be shot upon by security forces loyal to Colonel Gadaffi. But Sophos also noted companies that have .ly country codes in their domain name do not appear to been impacted by the hack, "which seems to just be a defacement of the nic.ly main page." — TJD, GMA News