Hackers have taken over the New York Times Website in a protest against reports by its correspondents.

The H4CK1NG F0R G1RL13Z (HFG) group disabled the site, substituting its own front page in which it accused Technology correspondent John Markoff of helping to imprison the well-known hacker Kevin Mitnick with his stories.

The page included the rhyme:

hanging here at new york times
is the best place to sling our rhymes
poor journalism these guys have the knack
which explains the good security they lack

In comments inside the code of the page, the group also criticised Carolyn Meinel, author of "The Happy Hacker: A Guide To Mostly Harmless Hacking".

The Times was back up on Monday morning with a message to its readers: "New York Times on the Web was unavailable for more than nine hours on Sunday, the result of an attack by hackers. Most of the site is now available but certain areas, including the archive, crossword and some other services, remain inaccessible."

HFG says it has hacked many other sites in the past, including those of NASA, Motorola and Penthouse magazine. It says it is sending a warning to corporations to secure their systems.