White House among targets of sweeping cyber attack

Published: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:16 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

WASHINGTON — The powerful Internet attack that overwhelmed computers at U.S. and South Korean government agencies for days was even broader than initially realized, pestering the White House, the Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange and shutting down other official Web sites.

Targets of the most widespread cyber offensive of recent years also included the National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department and State Department, the Nasdaq stock market and The Washington Post, according to an early analysis of the malicious software used in the attacks.

The cyber assault on the White House site had "absolutely no effect on the White House's day-to-day operations," said spokesman Nick Shapiro.

Preventative measures kept whitehouse.gov "stable and available to the general public," Shapiro said, but Internet visitors from Asia may have experienced problems.

South Korean intelligence officials believe the attacks were carried out by North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces, but many experts in cyberwarfare said it was simply too early to know where the offensive originated.

Many of the U.S. government targets appear to have successfully blunted the sustained computer assaults. But others, such as the Treasury Department, were knocked off-line at times.

Story continues below

Two government officials acknowledged that Treasury's site was brought down, and said the agency had been working with its Internet service provider to resolve the problem. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

As of last night, Shapiro said, "all federal Web sites were back up and running."

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, said that the cyber attacks slowed access to the agency's Web site, which operates on the same computer server as Treasury's. But Secret Service's site remained in operation despite the crippling effects of the cyber offensive, Donovan said.

"Our site was never knocked down, but it was slowed down at points," Donovan said. He added that Secret Service's "operational side" was not affected by the attacks.

State Department spokesman Ian C. Kelly told reporters that the department's state.gov Web site has been under attack since July 5.

"It's still ongoing but I'm told it's much reduced now," Kelly said.

The Associated Press obtained the target list from security experts analyzing the attacks. It was not immediately clear who might be responsible or what their motives were.

Recent comments

I agree with your re: 9:58 comment, though I disagree with your...

Dave | July 8, 2009 at 9:45 p.m.

Anonymous 4:05,
Since you mentioned it, Bush's policies and actions...

Matthew | July 8, 2009 at 4:58 p.m.

Perhaps the liberals will blame this on Bush, too.

Anonymous | July 8, 2009 at 4:05 p.m.

Image
Ahn Young-joon, Associated Press

An employee of Korea Internet Security Center works at a monitoring room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday. South Korean intelligence authorities believe that North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces in South Korea committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. Web sites, an official said Wednesday.

previousnext

Latest comments

Science is NOT based on consensus, We do not vote on science. So it...

Letters: C02 causes warming

There is no Globalwarming!!! This BS is about a political tactic, falsifying...

Global Extremism is happening. Climate change is correct. It changes from...

I don't think it is that big of a deal that we traded seitz. It is likely...

Utes need Wide to run wild

As a die-hard Ute fan, I can smell a loss a-brewin.' BYU 42 Utah 14...

BYU has slim shot at BCS

I'm not sure I agree with this article. Even if we destroy Utah on Saturday,...

I love the "BYU is too scared to played in Logan" rant. Of the past 10 games...

NOOOOOO! Why are we doing this? Seitz is a few starts away from being the...

Really hope we got a good amount of money for seitz.. It's likely he wouldn't...

Cougars cruise past Southern

I'm still undecided about where BYU will end up this season. Our backcourt...

Advertisements