Syrian Electronic Army hacks news sites

American, British and Canadian media organizations said Thursday they had been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a hacking group supporting the Syrian government.

The attack appeared to be part of a coordinated, worldwide effort to infiltrate sites using popular third-party comment platform Gigya, according to multiple reports.

{mosads}Visitors to these sites either received a pop-up window declaring, “You have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army(SEA)” or were redirected to an image of a crest often used by group.

On Twitter, the SEA posted: “Happy thanks giving, hope you didn’t miss us! The press: Please don’t pretend #ISIS are civilians. #SEA”

ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is a extremist rebel group that has taken control of territory in Iraq and Syria, prompting the U.S. to launch a bombing strike against the group.

In the U.S., The New York Daily News said some users were unable to reach their site. Twitter users also said they had gotten SEA hacking messages while trying to access The Chicago Tribune, CNBC, PC World and Forbes.

In England, The Independent, The Evening Standard, and The Telegraph were all affected.

The Canadian site CBC News also said it had been inaccessible.

Gigya confirmed in a statement it had noticed an issue early Thursday morning.

The attack also reportedly hit sports organizations, including the National Hockey League.

Last year, the SEA hacked The New York Times’ website and Twitter account.