Mail & Guardian site under attack

The Mail & Guardian Web site at http://www.mg.co.za has come under sustained attack by hackers.

Because of the scale and severity of the assault, we have decided to shut down the site while securing and repairing it.

This was a painful decision for a news organisation like ours to take, compromising as it does our ability to keep updated some 750 000 users in South Africa and around the world. We cannot, however, risk compromising their security.

The Mail & Guardian technical team is now working flat-out on ensuring that we are able to resume normal service as soon as possible.

M&G Editor-in-Chief Nic Dawes said: “We're gutted that we've had to shut down the site, and we're doing our best to get it back up. We'd like to extend sincere apologies to all of our users, and hope that they will understand that we had to prioritise their security over other considerations for a brief period.”

For comment: M&G Online editor, Chris Roper, 083 277 2082