PORTLAND – The Portland Press Herald says a computer attack has crippled its Web site and those of its affiliates, causing them to crash and making them available only intermittently for much of the past week.

President and General Manager Rob Bickler said a “simplistic hack” broke a traffic management tool, causing the servers that manage the sites to overload. The problem, which was discovered on the night of June 26, has been partially corrected and Bickler says he hopes for a complete fix by week’s end.

The affected sites include those of the Press Herald’s sister newspapers, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville and the Kennebec Journal in Augusta.

Dan Dinsmore, director of MaineToday.com, said the sites average about 10 million page views a month.