Syrian Electronic Army Causes Internet Chaos By Shutting Down Media Outlets via Gigya Platform Hack

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is causing a mass media outage after the group hacked a comment system used by a number of high profile news websites across the globe.

Websites affected include The Independent, Chicago Tribune ,Italian newspaper Repubblica, CNBC, Forbes and the Telegraph.

Users are met with a notification saying "You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)" and then are blocked from visiting the page.

It is believed that websites using the popular Gigya comment platform are being affected by the outage after the hackers posted a picture of service, which is owned by American Israeli company Godaddy.com, on its Twitter page.

However, it is not just media outlets being affected - sports websites are being taken down by the SEA too.

French football club Toulouse FC, the NHL's website and Canadian broadcaster CBC are all reporting problems.

PC World has also been hit by SEA hacking.

According to the SEA's website, the collective describes itself as "a group of young Syrians, not belonging to any governmental entity."