Hackers have turned on their own by breaking into Slashdot, a website for technology and open source enthusiasts.

An article on Slashdot admits that the popular site's database was "compromised by two hackers from the Netherlands". Slashdot said the hackers, including Nohican, found a way of breaking into the website - which they then fixed to make the site secure.

The hackers then emailed Slashdot administrators, informing them that the site, which is based on an Apache webserver running Linux, had been compromised.

In a message attached to the story, a Slashdot administrator said: "We know about it, blah-blah-blah. Don't email us. I think it's safe to say that whatever happened, you'll hear the full details soon enough. Thanks."

Matt Tomlinson, business development director at security firm MIS Corporate Defence, said what Nohican has done is at best ethically questionable and leaves Slashdot in a position where it needs to audit the integrity of its site.

"If someone is just scanning a site for vulnerabilities and telling the admin of any problems that's probably fine - they're not breaking the law if they follow a 'look but don't touch' approach. This kind of community service does go on," said Tomlinson.

"However, if someone goes on from that and runs proof of concept attacks, without authority, then they're breaking the Computer Misuse Act."