The US Army’s main Web site is down -- and the Syrian Electronic Army is claiming credit

The Syrian Electronic Army hacked the official Web site for the US Army, a Twitter account apparently associated with the hacktivist group claimed. The site was down in the afternoon of June 8, while screenshots posted on the social network by SEA purported to show messages of support for beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the site earlier in the day.

The Army confirmed the site outage. "Today an element of the Army.mil service provider's content was compromised," said Brig. Gen. Malcolm B. Frost, an Army spokesman. "After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the Web site temporarily." The statement did not address the SEA army claims of responsibility. However, the official Facebook page for Fort Bragg in North Carolina warned people to "avoid" using the Army's Web site because it was down "reportedly from being hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army."