Bank Hacks: Iran Blame Game Intensifies

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/bank-hacks-iran-blame-game-intensifies/240009068

By Mathew J. Schwartz
InformationWeek
October 15, 2012

Who's behind the continuing series of attacks against the websites of 
numerous U.S. banks? A flurry of news reports Friday pointed the finger 
squarely at Iran.

"They have been going after everyone--financial services, Wall Street," 
a senior defense official, speaking anonymously, told The Wall Street 
Journal. "Is there a cyberwar going on? It depends on how you define 
war."

Earlier this month, the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks 
used by the banking website attackers successfully disrupted the 
operations of leading Wall Street financial institutions, including Bank 
of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, as well as other firms. 
Last week, the attacks expanded to include Capital One, SunTrust, and 
Regions Financial.

Despite an advance warning by attackers, all of the targeted banks' 
websites still suffered disruptions. As that suggests, and as Wells 
Fargo CFO Tim Sloan confirmed to Reuters Friday, the scale of the DDoS 
attack launched against his bank was "pretty significant," although he 
noted--as have other officials at banks whose websites were 
disrupted--that no customer data had been compromised by attackers.

[...]


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