U.S. and South Korea Victim of DOS Attack
AP is reporting that the Treasury Department, Secret Service, and “other” agencies were the victim of a Denial of Service attack over the 4th of July weekend. The South Korean government was also attacked, fueling speculation that the attack came from North Korea.
Is North Korea getting smart? Even though they are making advances in their missile technology, they would still get spanked if they went to war with pretty much any of the major nations. In cyberspace though, they could rival the abilities of the major nations.
Even with a small group of hackers, North Korea could plan massive attacks against pretty much anyone they want. Imagine them developing or purchasing a botnet, then using this botnet to launch a Denial of Service attack. These attacks are nearly impossible to block and it would be difficult to trace the attack back to North Korea.
Given the success of this attack, I would expect to see more of this from North Korea in the future. This further underscores the importance of the DoD cyberspace initiatives.
Update: Plot Thickens
There’s more info out now that says this could be a botnet and that some South Koreans are being hit with a virus. The attack is also ongoing…this should be interesting.