French B&Q equivalent 'hacked' to offer visitors vulgar DIY tools

French DIY goods store Castorama has pulled its website offline after miscreants manipulated the site search function to suggest rude versions of household appliances.

Yesterday Castorama.fr's home page was swapped out for a message translation experts reckon means: "Dear Internet, this site's page in unavailable. Thank you for understanding."

Reg readers have been in touch to let us know that it was pulled after the site's search engine began returning vulgar responses.

As reported by French publication BFM, the coarse, if amusingly puerile suggestions (Searching sander returns cock sander, hammer returns bollock hammer, etc.) have also been accompanied by less playful anti-Semitic results when users search for showers or ovens.

An indication of the manipulators' maturity is also evident in a search for clou, or nails, which returns the suggestion clou sur la croiz du christ qui regarde [bruler] les impies gloire a Satan.

DIY enthusiasts and the twitterati have been posting screenshots on Twitter, including one cheekily offering good luck to Castorama's support teams.

A spokesperson for Castorama confirmed the issue to The Register, though they said the issue was a matter of "manipulation" rather than hacking, and we will update this piece with their translated statement as soon as we receive it.

It is likely the individuals seeded the site's search with many searches for profanity, an expert told us. ®