Hackers hit US disaster victim

Cyber vigilantes have defaced websites belonging to a firm with around 200 workers missing after last week's attack on the World Trade Center, in which 1100 of its staff were located.

On Sunday, a vigilante group calling itself 'The Dispatchers' defaced terrorismteam.uk.com and terrorism.uk.com. Both web addresses promote the services of the Special Risks Terrorism Team, consultants on counter-terrorism, insurance and risk management services.

The firm is a unit of Aon, where 1100 employees worked in the World Trade Center tower number two on floors 92 and 98-105, with another 250 elsewhere in Manhattan. According to Aon's website, around 200 staff remain unaccounted for.

The defacements carry a text message condemning terrorism.

The vigilantes said that the site had been defaced by mistake, but were glad of the attention it had brought to their 'message'. A member of the group told vnunet.com: "It was by mistake. But due to the media focus on our mistake, it has helped to get our word and message out, so I guess maybe it was not too much of a mistake."

Dispatchers has hit a number of websites based in Islamic countries since last week's US attacks, including the Iranian Ministry of the Interior, and claims to have disabled internet service providers in Palestine.

Earlier this week, the FBI warned would-be cyber vigilantes that they would do more harm than good. The agency's National Infrastructure Protection Center warned that hackers could face up to five years in jail if they were traced to politically motivated attack.