Qatar ministry announce preliminary results of news agency website hack
The Ministry of the Interior has announced the preliminary results of ongoing investigations into the crime of piracy on the website of the Qatar News Agency (QNA) and its accounts on social networking websites.
Following the hack, Ministry of Foreign Affairs had vowed to find the perpetrators and prosecute them.
Official Source at #MOFA: the Perpetrators of the Electronic Piracy against #QNA website will be prosecutedhttps://t.co/yeLDwF0S2H#Qatar pic.twitter.com/HVaA6y8r6l
— MOFA - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) May 24, 2017
In a statement today, the Ministry said the investigation team confirmed that the piracy process had used high techniques and innovative methods by exploiting an electronic gap on the website of the Qatar News Agency.
The investigation team was able to identify the sources through which the crime of piracy was committed and that process of sorting out and analysis to determine the electronic evidence are now underway in order to ensure the judicial prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime.
The team confirmed that the hacked file was installed last April, which was later exploited in the publication of the fabricated news on 24/5/2017, at 12:13 am.
The website hack was soon followed by a breakdown of diplomatic relations between Qatar and neighboring Gulf states - including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The Ministry of the Interior affirmed that in the light of the transparency and clarity of the State of Qatar to indicate those responsible for this subversive action, all the results of the investigation will be presented through a press conference of the Ministry of Interior immediately after the team have completed the entire investigation.
The Ministry of the Interior expressed its thanks and appreciation for the fruitful cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the British National Commission for Combating Crime (NCA) for their cooperation in the ongoing investigations, which were part of the cooperation agreements signed between the State of Qatar and the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Statement released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
