UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Hackers broke into the official U.N. Web site and put up an anti-war message targeted at the United States and Israel, the United Nations said Monday.

The first attack was on a U.N. Web page reserved for statements from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at about 9 a.m. Sunday morning, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. The Web site of the U.N. Department of Public Information was then attacked, as were the U.N. Cyberschoolbus site for teachers and students, and the U.N. Economic and Social Council's site.

The hackers, who identified themselves as kerem125, MOsted, and Gsy, left a message saying: "That is CyberProtest Hey Ysrail and Usa dont kill children and other people Peace for ever No war."

"We are very concerned that this happened," Montas said. "It lasted a few minutes but we managed to get them off and change that. We also had to change our archives and rebuild the whole site."

The break-in is under investigation and the Department of Public Information and Information Technology Security Division are working to prevent future cyber attacks, she said.

Montas said there was no posting of new information on the U.N. site on Monday while computer experts were assessing the system.

Montas said the U.N. did not not look at the attack as strictly an act of cyberterrorism.

"I don't know," Montas said. "I think it was seen more as a prank."

She said hackers using the same names have invaded a number of other sites in recent months.

When a reporter mentioned online criticism that the U.N.'s Web site used old technology that was easy to penetrate and asked why the U.N. was using such an antiquated system, Montas replied "Like the building, we are improving slowly, and it takes some time."

In December, the U.N. General Assembly finally gave a green light to start renovating the 39-story glass-and-steel building, which has not seen a major overhaul in its 55-year existence and now violates safety and fire codes.

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