Government Web Sites Targeted By Attack

A widespread and coordinated cyberattack during the past few days has targeted Web sites operated by major government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. The attack involved thousands of computers around the globe infected with rogue software that told them to repeatedly attempt to access the targeted sites, a tactic aimed at driving up traffic beyond the sites' normal capacity and denying access to legitimate users, according to the researchers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are helping with the investigation. Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that the agency was aware of ongoing attacks and that the government's Computer Emergency Response Team had issued guidance to public and private sector Web sites to stem the attacks. South Korean authorities issued a cyber security warning on Wednesday after the Web sites of government agencies and financial institutions were disabled by apparent hacker attacks, possibly linked to North Korea. South Korea's spy agency said in a statement an organization and possibly a state was behind the attacks on Tuesday in the world's most wired nation, and there were signs of "meticulous preparations" for the act.