PILSEN — The National Museum of Mexican Art's website was hacked Wednesday afternoon.
After an 18-hour takeover, the museum's website was restored to it's original version at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Museum staff reported the hack to the Chicago Police.
The web page, which contained expletives after being hacked, made a disparaging comment about the United States, Israel, Iran, India, France and "haterz."
The hacker, who calls himself Moh Ooasiic, proclaims to be a "Muslim hacker" and "hacker of Islam."
The hack came just before a new exhibit featuring art inspired by the novel The House on Mango Street is slated to open to public Friday, said Barbara Engelskirchen, chief development officer at the museum.
"I was very frustrated because we have a huge exhibition — one of the biggest exhibitions of the year for us — that opens tomorrow," she said.
The museum's first goal was to restore the website so art fans could access event details for the opening weekend.
Engelskirchen said the hack did not present an overt threat to the museum, and the museum has not been hacked before.
"It didn't threaten harm. Somebody was trying to unfortunately express themselves in an inappropriate way," she said.
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