International hacking group, LulzSec took control of over of The Sun's website for several hours and redirected viewers to a site with a hoax story with the headline "Media mogul's body discovered" reporting that Rupert Murdoch had been found dead.

The hacking group hacked into the website and also claimed hacking access to the company’s emails, which will be released on Tuesday. They also posted an email address claiming it is that of Rebekah Brooks and said that they knew her password combination.

The hoax story suggested Murdoch had taken the radioactive poison palladium before "stumbling into his famous topiary garden late last night". The internet page then started directing users to the group’s Twitter account that was displaying "hacked internal Sun staff data" in one entry.

A News International spokeswoman has confirmed that the company is aware of the attacks.