Nic Dawes (follow him on Twitter), editor of local investigative news publication, the Mail & Guardian, has said that the paper’s website, MG.co.za, is the victim of sustained organised hacking attempts.

While there may be in a pun in there about hackers hacking hacks, we’ll leave it alone, and move on with the facts.

Contacted for comment by 2oceansvibe, Dawes had the following to say:

“We began to notice suspicious activity on the website over the course of the last 48 hours, and an investigation of our own confirmed this morning that were were under a cyber attack of some sort.”

Dawes confirmed via Twitter that the attacks originated in Russia. Asked how he had confirmed the origin of the attacks, Dawes attributed the find to the Mail & Guardian’s skilled inhouse technical staff.

Heading up a newspaper that has made its fair share of political enemies with sometimes awkwardly brutal and thorough investigative reportage, Dawes attributed the motive of the attack to cybercrime, steering clear of suggesting that the attacks might be in any way politically motivated.

The following statement appeared on the Mail & Guardian website as of noon on Wednesday the 26th of January:

Dear Mail & Guardian reader

The Mail & Guardian’s website is under sustained attack by hackers. We are dealing with the problem, but to make absolutely sure that your security isn’t compromised, we have decided to suspend the service temporarily. It’s a drastic measure, but we really don’t want to take any chances with your security. We apologise for this interruption of service. We’ll be back as soon as we have made certain that the problem has been effectively dealt with. We’ll continue to update you as soon as we have news.

Chris Roper, Editor (Online)

For more information please contact editoronline@mg.co.za

BoingBoing.net recently ran an excellent series on the rapidly escalating global pravalence of cyber crime by guest author and subject pundit, Joseph Menn. We suggest you read it to brush up on your worldly knowledge.