Arabiya website, shut down by unknown computer hackers recently, has been restored and all data moved to an alternate domain. Al-Arabiya issued a statement saying that its website had “come under organized cyber piracy performed by extremists.” The statement said that Al-Arabiya will continue to adhere to its policy of being “moderate, balanced and objective.” Mansoor Jafar, a senior Al-Arabiya TV journalist, told Saudi Gazette that as a result of hacking, surfers seeking to browse ‘alarabiya.net' were directed to a website controlled by the hackers. This kept the website suspended for an hour or so. However, tight security meant the cyber pirates could not get into the servers and therefore all data was safely linked to an alternate domain enabling visitors to access the news channel's portal. Updates were posted on the new domain on a regular basis on all four websites in Arabic, English, Urdu and Persian throughout the day. IT experts are seeking to fortify their cyber security manifold after this incident. “Mirror sites will be created in the future where all data will be available in case of any eventuality,” Jafar said. __
