A massive malware attack targeting the White House and U.S. and South Korean federal agencies over the July 4 weekend is now known to be even worse.
The attack now appears to have also affected the Pentagon, the New York Stock Exchange, Homeland Security Department, State Department, the Nasdaq stock market and The Washington Post.
Some of the agencies were able to fend off the attack, but the Treasury Department, Federal Trade Commission and Secret Service are still reporting website problems. The Transportation website was “100% down” from Saturday to Monday, and users of the FTC site were still unable to access the site yesterday.
No one knows yet who initiated the monumental invasion, but South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said they suspect North Korea launched the offensive. They also said they are cooperating with the U.S. in the ongoing investigation.
Most often, the U.S. cyber security officials are concerned about attacks from China, al-Qaida or Eastern Europe. Earlier this year the government released information regarding a security breach involving specifications for the president’s Marine One helicopter. The blueprints were traced to an Iranian IP address. A government official using a file sharing application inadvertently leaked the information.
Spokesmen for the U.S. government agencies are generally tightlipped about cyber attacks, but unnamed officials from the Treasury Department and Secret Service acknowledged their websites were temporarily crippled and that they were still experiencing problems days after the attack.
The South Korean presidential Blue House, the Defense Ministry and several banking sites were still out of commission yesterday. Many personal computers also appeared to be infected with a virus that directed users to visit websites of the same South Korean government agencies affected by the cyber blitz.
Tags: cyber attack, LifeLock promo code, North Korea, South Korea, White House
