Mass. Maritime Academy website hacked twice, linking to Islamic Extremist site

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- The Massachusetts Maritime Academy website was hacked for a second time this week by a group who identify themselves as the Moroccan Islamic Union.

Students first reported noticing the issues around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, which is when they say that the webmail link on the Academy website was redirecting users to a website of Islamic Extremists. The website was filled with threats to America written in Arabic.

Officials say the school's firewall was immediately shut down for a short time, which locked out all communications from the outside while a review of the website logs was conducted.

It is believed that the hackers were only looking to broadcast their message and that no files were taken from the website, which was back up and running by Tuesday afternoon.

An official confirmed website was hacked for a second time on Tuesday night, during which the entire homepage was wiped out.

The school's president, Admiral Rick Gurnon, said it is believed a group called the Moroccan Islamic Union Mail is responsible for the attack. A Facebook page seemingly belonging to the group took responsibility for the hack.

It appeared that the group was "bragging they hacked the Naval Academy," Gurnon said.

The MMA IT department has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, and an investigation into the hacking will be conducted. The Department of Homeland Security is also looking into the incident but say there is absolutely no credible safety threat to the school.

Cox Media Group