Qatar recovers sites hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

Qatari authorities have restored several government websites attacked by hackers from the Syrian Electronic Army, who support President Bashar al-Assad’s government, local media reported Sunday.

Qatar’s Supreme Council of Information and Technology (ictQatar) said in a statement carried by local media that it has “recovered all government websites hacked on Saturday.”

It said it is ready to “deal with any similar future operations.”

“No financial losses have been caused” by the hacking that targeted websites with the “gov.qa” domain name, local media quoted ictQatar as saying on Twitter.

The Qatari interior ministry’s page was among the websites hit. But the ministry said on Twitter that “data registered on the website was not affected.”

Hackers who claim to support Assad, collectively known as the Syrian Electronic Army, have targeted high-profile websites in recent months, including one belonging to the US marines and the New York Times’s page.

Qatar, alongside Saudi Arabia and Turkey, has been a principal backer of the rebels seeking to overthrow the Syrian government.