Washington, D.C. — First, there were questions about the USA’s NSA spy department developing Einstein 3 for the Internet. Next, there was the life of the head British spy being put on Facebook by his wife. Now, there are questions if North Korea launched a cyber attack against the USA and South Korea.
Starting on the 4th Of July, over 35 government websites in the U.S. and South Korea were simultaneously hit with a widely known weapon known as a DSA (denial of service attack). The NASDAQ said they were unaffected. The WhiteHouse.gov, Homeland Security and the FAA felt the impact. Some sites were shut down including the the Treasury Department, the Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission, and the Transportation Department.
South Korea’s spy agency is pointing the finger at North Korea’s spy agency; however, not everyone is so sure. It is common place to make attacks look like they are coming from somewhere else. A bunch of kids, another government or a rouge hacker could have made it look like North Korea. “In the dozens of instances that I worked over the past decade, I cannot recall a single instance in which someone intending to attack came from the source it appeared to have come from,” offered a former intelligence agent.
“The preventative measures in place to deal with frequent attempts to disrupt WhiteHouse.gov’s service performed as planned, keeping the site stable and available to the general public, although visitors from regions in Asia may have been affected,” said Nick Shapiro.
The State Department’s attack started on July, 5. “It’s still ongoing, but I’m told that it’s much reduced right now,” spokesperson Ian Kelly said.