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Hackers hit German federal prosecutor website

Berlin - Hackers blocked part of the German federal prosecutor's office, a spokesperson said on Monday, but she could not give any details about the scope of the attack or the possible perpetrators.

On Thursday, the day before the attack was first noticed, the prosecutor's department had said it would investigate website netzpolitik.org for treason.

The civil liberties blogging site published two articles in February and April about plans to increase state surveillance of online communication and set up a special unit to monitor social media that Germany's domestic intelligence agency said were based on leaked confidential documents.

The attack made part of the prosecutor's site temporarily inaccessible, giving the error message "database does not exist" when users tried to open media releases, the spokesperson said.

The investigation into netzpolitik was suspended on Friday so that experts could decide whether the documents concerned contained state secrets.

Several German government websites have been hacked this year including Chancellor Angela Merkel's homepage in January.

The attacks were claimed by a group demanding Berlin end support for the Ukrainian government, shortly before their leaders were to meet.

The computer system of Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament was also hacked in May.

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