The Monmouthshire Business Awards' website was taken offline for three days last week after Chinese cyber-crooks hacked into its host operating system. Experts say the hackers bypassed the site's 'very robust' security measures by cracking a series of access codes. They apparently hoped to hijack the site, which was picked at random, in order to use it as a platform to shift illegal goods or products. But the breach was discovered by the website's developer, who locked it down to prevent further unlawful access. It was offline between Monday and Thursday last week while the breach was investigated. A spokesman for MBA said the police have been notified. The site does not contain any sensitive data, nor hold information of any kind about people or businesses. No other damage was caused. But a series of new security measures have since been added to safeguard the site against future attack. The deadline for entries has also been extended to Friday August 8 to account for the website's downtime. Janet Harris, MBA's founder, said, "We understand that our site has become the latest victim of so-called Chinese cyber-gangs. Like most websites that are hacked, ours was apparently selected at random. "The episode caused us all a bit of concern, but I'm pleased to say that no harm has been done and additional measures are now in place."