A hacking group has 'mistakenly taken down' an English local bus website under the impression that it is a far more significant target, The Guardian reports.
TravelWest, which provides local bus timetables and listings for the West Country, a region of England in the South West encompassing five counties. The local newspaper speculated that the hackers may have thought TravelWest was "a more influential website promoting travel around the Western World."
The website was replaced with a "black backdrop featuring Islamic writing and the legend 'Hacked by Darkshadow'," according to The Guardian. The page linked to a Facebook page operated by the hackers, which claimed to have hacked other more high profile targets including Zest Airways, ESPN Run and the Moroccan soccer team, though The Huffington Post reports that "many of the sites show no signs of being hacked."
Linking to the Facebook page resulted in confused commuters posting on the wall of the hackers with queries about the buses inaccessible on the website, with one commuter asking the hackers "What time is the number 8 to the town centre?"
Not everyone is convinced that the hack was indeed undertaken by the group however, with IT Pro claiming that an unexpected spelling error draws a red flag: "Cynics are doubtful the group was responsible for the hack because the perpetrators spelt the word 'Muslim' incorrectly and the faux pas seems a little unexpected from a group that claims to have taken down such high-profile organizations in the past."
The website's service has been restored, a spokesman for TravelWest confirmed.
