Since last weekend some government websites in the US and South Korea have been cyberattacked, the New York Times reported. While the NYT has not concluded who is responsible beyond they “appear to have been launched by a hostile group or government”, “the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the spy agency had implicated North Korea or pro-North Korea groups,” NYT noted.
“The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, The A.P. reported, citing officials inside and outside the American government. The fact that the government Web sites were still being affected after three days signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack, the news agency reported, citing anonymous American officials.”
Running these attacks during the 4th of July weekend and the Michael Jackson memorial is almost like the Vietnamese Tet offensive – a push during New Year;s celebrations.
The attacks were made through infected computers – seems that malware can really cause problems when aimed at certain targets.