Al Mayadeen Online Director comments on network hacking

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Al Mayadeen Network social media platforms were successfully restored and resumed work normally within a few minutes, after the cyberattack that targeted the network yesterday evening came under control.

Al Mayadeen's platforms were hacked via an account that had access to the network, but the situation came under control shortly after the attack, Al Mayadeen Online Director Bahia Halawi said on Thursday.

According to Halawi, the hacking was a complicated and thoroughly thought out process that was prepared for over a long period of time.

During a talk on Al Mayadeen, Halawi indicated that the network's IT teams had all the credentials of the attackers, "and we had all the technical info regarding the hacking in less than an hour."

Meanwhile, Al Mayadeen Online Director dismissed the attackers' claims about who they were after they claimed in the posts to be an ISIS cell in the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

"The hacking was not carried out by the party claiming to have launched the attack, and we have information proving that it is much more serious than that," she underlined.

"We were able to find the IP addresses of the parties that hacked Al Mayadeen's social media pages," Halawi added, meaning that their geographic locations were revealed.

The Director also revealed that there were several attempts and attacks that targeted the channel's platforms prior to this hacking, especially Al Mayadeen English.

Halawi also highlighted how the hacking took place as Al Mayadeen has ongoing coverage of the events in Iran in light of the riots and attempts to undermine the security of the Islamic Republic at the hands of Western-backed terrorist groups.

"Al Mayadeen reporting the truth regarding what is going on in Iran infuriated several parties," she stressed.

"We dealt with the hack in a very transparent manner, and we denied the fake news published during the attack," Halawi said.

Additionally, she concluded by underlining how major tech companies are jeopardized by hacks and cybersecurity threats, and Al Mayadeen took swift measures to contain the hack.

Al Mayadeen's platforms were hacked on Thursday evening, and false news was broadcast on some of its social media platforms about an explosion at Beirut International Airport.

A party attributing itself to the ISIS terrorist organization announced hacking some of Al Mayadeen Network's platforms. However, the platforms were soon restored, and the issue was resolved.

#AlMayadeen Media Network denies the news about an alleged explosion at #Beirut airport, which was broadcasted after some of Al Mayadeen’s social accounts were hacked, and confirms that such news is unfounded. pic.twitter.com/yivZqD0wAm

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 17, 2022