After keeping quiet for a few months, the Syrian Electronic Army are back to hacking news organizations and Twitter accounts - in the name of the country's president Bashar al-Assad.

It is still unclear whether the Syrian Electronic Army is an active part of the Syrian Army. The group identifies themselves as a youthful team of Syrians, who could not bear the slander being posted by news organizations.

Like Us on Facebook

However, the Syrian Electronic Army appears to be a state-funded effort by Syria, given the scope of the attacks on news orgs since 2011.

The recent attacks - which again show the prominence of the hackers - have managed to shut down CNBC; British newspaper, The Independent; London's Evening Standard; and New York Daily News.

Several Twitter accounts were also hacked, allowing the Syrian Electronic Army to post defamatory messages to the large audiences.

The Independent posted "the nature of the attack is still unknown - and it is unclear whether the sites themselves are under attack, or the devices of those accessing them"

It does seem like an odd group of news organizations to attack, considering two are based in the U.S. and two in the U.K. The Syrian Electronic Army is most likely trying to hack whatever news organization writing about the Syrian conflict.

Syria has stepped up its cyber efforts in the past two years, after widespread news of the attacks on pro-rebel forces under the Assad regime. The Syrian Civil War has been ongoing since 2011 and the death toll has risen above 200,000, with both sides taking major losses.

Several human rights groups have labelled both the rebels and Syrian government for human rights abuses. These include chemical weaponry, bombing and displacement - both sides deny using chemical weapons, a UN human rights violation.

The electronic army might see hacking as an opportunity to control the media, but previous attacks have just kept the website down for a few hours.

TagsSyrian Electronic Army, The Independent, CNBC