Possible cyber attack from North Korea?

News today:

The US and South Korea had some cyber attacks (cyber software attacks) that overwhelmed government websites. My news source is AP associated press. I'm reading this today while I'm here in Taiwan. Thinking about my life in Modesto, CA, USA - our Modesto plastic surgery practice in the Central Valley. Where is Modesto, CA, USA?

The powerful attack that targeted dozens of government and private sites underscored how unevenly prepared the U.S. government is to block such multipronged assaults. Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission Web sites were shut down by these cyber attacks.

The officials said that while Internet addresses have been traced to North Korea, that does not necessarily mean the attack involved the Pyongyang government.

What are these attacks?

They are called "denial of service" attacks. The sites are flooded with internet traffice that they are effectively considered "off-line."


The article interviewed Joe Stewart who is the director of malware research for the counterthreat unit of SecureWorks Inc.

He said: the "target list" contained in the program's code only had five U.S. government sites on it on July 5, but were broadened the next day to include nongovernment sites inside the U.S.

The following day, the South Korean Web sites were added.

What is SecureWorks Inc? SecureWorks is a market leading provider of world-class information security services with over 2,600 clients worldwide. Organizations of all sizes, including more than ten percent of the Fortune 500, rely on SecureWorks to protect information assets, improve compliance and reduce costs.

They also interviewed Ben Rushlo, director of Internet technologies at Keynote Systems, who talked about the US's public transportation websites.

What is Keynote Systems? Keynote Systems is a mobile and Web site monitoring company based in San Mateo, Calif. The company publishes data detailing outages on Web sites, including 40 government sites it watches. Keynote is the leading provider of on-demand test and measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience. Connected companies will know precisely how their Web sites, content, and applications will perform on actual browsers, networks, and mobile devices long before their customers and business are impacted.

Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the U.S. intelligence community, said that at least one of the federal agency Web sites got saturated with as many as 1 million hits per second per attack — amounting to 4 billion Internet hits at once.



My take:
1. Well, more research needs to be put into this to find out the exact source of the attacks.
2. There should be new software that can be continually updated to help prevents cyberattacks
3. Got to create ways of maintaining peace with North Korea.