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Hackers break into Japanese govt websites

TOKYO: Hackers broke into two government agency websites, posting insulting messages and in one case a link to the homepage of Playboy magazine, officials said on Tuesday.

In the first incident, the Science and Technology Agency discovered on Monday that its homepage had been tampered with and temporarily shut it down, according to Ken Maruoka, spokesman for the agency.

The website displayed obscene messages signed off as "Brazil poo hackerz." Viewers clicking on the section for agency projects and press releases were connected to the website for Playboy magazine.

It was the first time a Japanese government website had been hacked, Maruoka said.

Meanwhile, the Management and Coordination Agency's homepage was shut down on Tuesday after another apparent hacker attack.

The website showed 7 lines of gibberish and two lines in garbled English, according to an agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Japanese? As all peoples know, It's a folk which has no courageface to the truth of history. It's the disgrace of Asian!" the message read.

The official said the agency doesn't know when the website will reopen.

The government has yet to ascertain whether the two incidents are related.ÑAP