Information Security News: July 4 cyberattack called 'very minor'

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/16/july-4-cyberattack-called-very-minor/

By Shaun Waterman 
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 
July 16, 2009 

A leading authority on cyberwarfare says the Independence Day attack 
that knocked some U.S. government Web sites offline was so primitive it 
could be compared to a modern air force using hot-air balloons instead 
of planes to attack a foe.

"We should have been able to shrug it off," James Lewis, project 
director of the independent blue-ribbon Commission on Cyber Security for 
the 44th Presidency told The Washington Times. "The physical equivalent 
of this would have been an attack using hot-air balloons."

A senior Department of Homeland Security official who requested 
anonymity to speak freely about interagency issues, said the 
government's response to the attacks was "beautifully choreographed ... 
everything went well."

The attacks, which began July 4 and continued through most of last week, 
targeted 47 Web sites in the United States and South Korea, according to 
data collected by Shadowserver.org, a group that monitors cyberattacks.

"The attack itself was very minor," said Marcus Sachs, director of the 
Internet Storm Center, a volunteer monitoring group run by Web security 
specialists.

[...]


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