Le Devoir site hacked, Charest falsely reported dead

Montreal news organization Le Devoir is apologizing this morning for a cyber-attack that falsely reported the death of Quebec premier Jean Charest. At about 1 a.m. local time, the site was hacked and an article was posted on the home page declaring Charest had suffered a heart attack and died. The article was live for about 2-1/2 hours before it was removed.

Montreal news organization Le Devoir is apologizing this morning for a cyber-attack that falsely reported the death of Quebec premier Jean Charest. At about 1 a.m. local time, the site was hacked and an article was posted on the home page declaring Charest had suffered a heart attack and died. The article was live for about 2-1/2 hours before it was removed.

Rival news organization La Presse has published a screen shot of the hacked home page and included some text excerpts from the fake article.

Le Devoir issued a statement apologizing for the offence but not offering any details as to how or why the site was compromised. They are currently looking into the matter.

A more comprehensive report appears on J-Source's French sister site, ProjetJ.