The Tourism Industry Council NSW website and its NSW Tourism Awards website were both offline this week after being hacked with images of the Joker, a Guy Fawkes mask and a symbol from the occupy Wall Street movement.

The images and event, given coverage in The Australian newspaper, were quickly discovered by the Council’s staff and removed. “A second attempt to hack the sites was also quickly cleaned up and removed by our webhost”, the Council’s General Manager, Mr Andrew Jefferies said today. 

“We’re a little surprised that our websites were targeted by hackers, however, the show must go on and both sites are back up and running, providing a strong advertisement and showcase of our state’s most popular tourism attractions and products.”

Mr Jefferies “thanked” the hackers for providing the industry with a new and unexpected level of coverage in the lead up to this year’s New South Wales Tourism Awards. The NSW Tourism Awards Dinner & Ceremony will be held on Thursday November 22nd at Le Montage, Lilyfield. Tickets for the event will go on sale shortly.