IRANIAN fanatics launched a hack attack on Twitter in REVENGE for the website's role in anti-government protests, experts warned last night.The trendy micro-blogging site - used by dozens of celebs - was broken into by a group calling itself the "Iranian cyber army".
Twitter users trying to log on were directed instead to a page of political slogans. They were unable to post their messages, or Tweets, for hours.
In June Twitter was used to mobilize protests in Tehran after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi nejad was declared the winner in disputed elections.
And experts believe the Iranian government was behind yesterday's attack on the site.
Tory MP Patrick Mercer, chairman of Parliament's counter terrorism sub-committee, said: "Iran is one of the most predatory governments in terms of using the internet and e-attacks.
"It seems this was a revenge attack for Twitter's role in unsettling the country's elections."
One message in Arabic left by the hackers read, "Hezbollah is victorious" in a reference to the Islamic terror group.
Terror expert Neil Doyle said: "This attack is a display of power and it shows what can be achieved by penetrating and paralysing technology."
Twitter fans logging on early yesterday were greeted by a black screen with a green flag and a message in Arabic that said "The feast of peace".
A message in Iran's main language Farsi was below the flag.
The hackers also wrote in English: "THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY .
"U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But They Don't, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To...
Embarrassed Twitter bosses blamed the hijack on a DNS attack, where a web address is diverted to another site.
It was fixed a few hours later. But critics slammed Twitter for lax security.
Web commentators Mashable.com said: "This is unacceptable for one of the world's top 20 websites. Twitter must ensure it never happens again."
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