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North Korea Suspected in US Cyber Attack

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 8, 2009 7:55 AM CDT
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(Newser) – North Korean hackers have been fingered for the July 4 cyberattack that took down the websites of the Treasury, Secret Service, and other US government agencies, reports the AP. Another cyberattack hit sites in South Korea, including the president's website, and intelligence officials there said today that the North was behind both of the unusually lengthy attacks. Some sites were down as long as three days.

An initial investigation in South Korea found that a virus affecting personal computers forced them to visit American and Korean websites over and over, resulting in a so-called "denial of service" attack. "This is not a simple attack by individuals," the county's intelligence service said. "The attack appears to have been elaborately prepared and staged by a certain organization or state."

An official gives a briefing about cyber attacks at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea today.
An official gives a briefing about cyber attacks at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea today.   (AP Photo/Yonhap, Hwang Kwang-mo)
An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea.
An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
Forderon
Jul 8, 2009 6:29 AM CDT
You are severely underestimating the reliance on the Internet. It's not just a website, it could be a center of commerce with sensitive personal data and secrets. It could be something like online banking. It could be a website that's used to run a business. Or the many other uses for the Internet. A massive cyber attack could cripple a large part of the economy instantly.
Reader65069154
Jul 8, 2009 3:35 AM CDT
Wow you're still trying to blame Bush for this? It couldn't have been 2 days into office Obama had a secure blackberry, remember?? If this had been a priority like his crackberry, he could have had this fixed. it's his fault.
Derni
Jul 8, 2009 2:14 AM CDT
If it is established that they did in fact do this -it is time to send them a message and let them know that the world community will not tolerate them throwing rcoks at others-something "substantial"-not a war but a soild message

 
North Korea • South Korea • cyberwarfare • cyberattack • hacker • US government • website • denial of service attack

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