BBC reports own websites hit by cyber attack

The BBC's online services, including its news website and iPlayer catch-up TV platform, were taken down on Thursday by a large web attack, the British broadcaster reported. The BBC's sites, which rank only behind Google and Facebook in visitor numbers in Britain, according to Internet analytics firm comScore, were hit from 0700 GMT, with many users receiving an error message rather than content. The BBC press office said it would not confirm or deny it had been hit by an attack.