After a series of attacks on state government websites last Friday, administrators of Pennsylvania's web sites pulled the plug, rendering the sites inaccessible for hours.

In what sounds like a repeat of October's incident in California, one or more hackers were able to access servers hosting Pennsylvania's state government websites, apparently through SQL injection attempt. The activities were traced to a Chinese-registered domain, and the FBI is now investigating. According to a government spokeswoman, several other states and at least one university were similarly attacked, though the affected states were not revealed.

The state does not believe that any personal information has been lost or any permanent damage done, but characterized the decision to completely remove the sites as necessary to ensure the safety of the site's users.

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