Media websites hacked by Syrian Electronic Army NEW YORK, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Websites of media companies including CNBC and the British newspaper the Telegraph were hacked Thursday by a Syrian pro-Assad group. The so-called Syrian Electronic Army temporarily interrupted the websites with an error message and a screenshot calling attention to itself. "You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army," it read, with a drawing of an eagle and the Syrian flag seen on other websites. Canada's CBC News and newspapers The Independent, the London Evening Standard and the New York Daily News also had their websites affected, as were those of Dell, Unicef, Ferrari, Forbes magazine, the British newspaper The Guardian and the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "It is PR (public relations) move to show they have the skills, but what they are doing is not dramatically sophisticated," Ernest Hilbert, managing director of cybercrime at investigations firm Kroll Inc. told CNBC. The group claiming responsibility is supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its website says, and it has claimed to be instigators of previous cyberattacks, including hacks of the Associated Press and The Financial Times websites and interruptions of President Barack Obama's Twitter account. Its website says the group was created in 2011 when "the Arab and Western media started their bias in favor of terrorist groups that have killed civilians, the Syrian Arab Army and have destroyed private and public property."