PBS Hackers Post Fake Tupac Story

The PBS website was attacked by hackers on Monday, who posted a fake story that slain rapper Tupac Shakur was “alive and well,” media reports said.

A cached version of the website was uploaded before it was taken down by PBS. It showed a picture of Tupac wearing a backwards baseball cap, smiling, and said he is “still alive in New Zealand.”

“The small town -- unnamed due to security risks -- allegedly housed Tupac and Biggie Smalls (another rapper) for several years,” said the fake report.

Shakur was shot dead in 1996 in Las Vegas. Biggie, born Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed in 1997.

“If you missed it: our site has been accessed by hackers. Thanks for staying with us,” said a Twitter posting by The News Hour on Monday morning.

Hacker groups the LulzSec and The Lulz Boat took responsibility for the attack. “Anyway, say hello to the insides of the PBS servers, folks. They best watch where they’re sailing next time,” the group said in a Twitter posting.

“Hey @PBS admins, you still trying to regain control? The Lulz Boat sails through your horrendously-outdated kernels!” the group added.

According to CBS News, Lulz were not happy with a Frontline documentary on WikiLeaks, and hacked their website.

"From our point of view, we just see it as a disappointing and irresponsible act, especially since we have been very open to publishing criticism of the film … and the film included other points of view," David Fanning, executive producer of "Frontline told The Associated Press. "This kind of action is irresponsible and chilling."

The group also claimed to have extracted passwords and login information from the PBS website, and also claim to have posted them on a message board.

However, PBS denies this claim. “None of our visitors’ personal information or emails were compromised during last night’s incident,” it said in a Tweet.