Hackers Calling Themselves ‘Pyknic’Hit NBC Sites

hackers, NBC sites,

Hackers calling themselves “pyknic” got into several NBC websites and wreaking havoc.

The hackers hit the sites early Sunday, reports Deadline Hollywood. Initially, it looked like only the sites for Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno were affected, but eventually the damage spread to other parts of NBC’s websites, including the main NBC page and show directory.

Whoever “pyknic” is seemed to want to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, observed in Britain on Nov. 5. A scrolling line on one of the pages refers to the night, almost 400 years ago, when Fawkes was arrested in a plot to blow up Britian’s Upper Parliamentary chamber.

Fawkes is a hero of Anonymous, which has attacked sites by the MPAA, the RIAA, GM and the Pentagon, and he was the basis for the Alan Moore graphic novel V for Vendetta and movie by the same name. The grinning Guy Fawkes mask is also a trademark of the Occupy protest movement.

One of Lady Gaga’s fan sites was also hit Sunday, drawing a sympathetic tweet from the star.

My little angels! help is on the way. Gaga techies will be on it … to the rescue. calling them now.

The site was soon restored.

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