Cyberattacks Seem Meant to Destroy, Not Just Disrupt

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/technology/corporate-cyberattackers-possibly-state-backed-now-seek-to-destroy-data.html

By NICOLE PERLROTH and DAVID E. SANGER
The New York Times
March 28, 2013

American Express customers trying to gain access to their online 
accounts Thursday were met with blank screens or an ominous ancient type 
face. The company confirmed that its Web site had come under attack.

The assault, which took American Express offline for two hours, was the 
latest in an intensifying campaign of unusually powerful attacks on 
American financial institutions that began last September and have taken 
dozens of them offline intermittently, costing millions of dollars.

JPMorgan Chase was taken offline by a similar attack this month. And 
last week, a separate, aggressive attack incapacitated 32,000 computers 
at South Korea’s banks and television networks.

The culprits of these attacks, officials and experts say, appear intent 
on disabling financial transactions and operations.

[...]

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