Hackers leave Gates with pie on his face

You don't get anywhere in business without making some enemies along the way, as Bill Gates found today when the portal of Microsoft news website MSN in New Zealand was attacked by hackers, who rerouted visitors to an image of the Microsoft founder with pie on his face.

The previous targets of 'Peace Crew', a loosely-affiliated group of hackers who claimed responsibility for the security breach, have included the BBC and NATO websites, with their motivations largely believed to be political. In the case of the MSN New Zealand website, they posted messages reading "STOP THE WAR ISRAEL".

The image was taken in 1998 when Gates was hit with a pie by French anarchist Paul Godin.

MSN responded with a short statement from business manager Liz Fraser.

"The cause of this discrepancy has been identified and we are currently working with our Microsoft technology and security teams in the US to resolve the matter as quickly as possible today, " it read.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Other former targets of the hackers include Harvard University, the NBA, and the United States Army's Military District of Washington.