A leading Chinese university has had its website hacked by supporters of Islamic State, according to reports.

Tsinghua University¡¯s website displayed an image of IS fighters riding horses and audio in support of holy war, according to the South China Morning Post.

Underneath the image was a message that said: ¡°Everything is OK in the end. If it¡¯s not OK, then it¡¯s not the end¡±, signed by ¡°Islamic State Hacker¡±.

According to the SCMP, a member of staff at the university¡¯s computer management centre confirmed that the hacking had taken place.

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However, the university¡¯s home page and other parts of its website were unaffected.

Citing Chinese newspaper the Legal Evening News, the SCMP reported that a technician at the university said it was unlikely that the hackers had broken Tsinghua¡¯s firewall.

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Instead, the website might have used a weak password allowing the hackers in, it said.

, IS executed a Chinese hostage in Syria, triggering a promise from Beijing that it would hold the killers accountable.

This is not the first time Tsinghua has been embarrassed by a hack of its website. In 2008, its website carried a spoof interview with president Binglin Gu, saying that the Chinese university system was ¡°pouring shit into the students¡¯ minds¡±.

In what was seen as a protest by hackers against turgid higher education in China, the interview went on to lambast ¡°serious academic corruption, dry and irrelevant to society curriculum, and rote memorisation teaching methods¡±.?

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david.matthews@tesglobal.com