Crackers fell Cabinet Office Web site

Crackers brought down the Cabinet Office's Web site Thursday, defacing the site and forcing its hosting company to take it off line.

A cabinet office spokesman says that, to his knowledge, the attack was not politically motivated and describes the message posted on the site home page as nothing more than a "silly note".

"Everything possible is being done by the company involved and Cabinet Office staff to remedy the situation," he says.

The spokesman admits that, as a prominent government Internet destination, the Cabinet Office Web site is constantly being targeted by computer attackers.

"There have been hacking attacks in the past but we've been able to fend them off," he says. "We obviously take security very seriously and it is constantly under review."

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