Cyber attacks have become a major problem for the security agencies to counter, as except digital footprints there are no other hard physical evidence for the investigators to follow. South Korea and the United States of America faced a similar situation today, when they were hit by cyber attacks almost simultaneously. The hackers were able to severely paralyze several critical government websites of South Korea, such as banks, government agencies and major internet websites, according to a combined statement released by the South Korean and U.S officials.

Some of the South Korean websites that were compromised included, the official site of the presidential Blue House, Defense Ministry, the National Assembly, Shinhan Bank, Korea Exchange Bank and top South Korean search portal Naver, which is one of the most widely used search engine in the country. The hack led to downing of sites or ‘no access’ issues. As of now, the identities of the infiltrators are unknown and the motives behind the attacks are also largely unknown.

According to preliminary investigations, a virus was sent to many personal computers in both countries, directing the system to visit the targeted websites, at the same time. Since July 4th, U.S websites and systems have come under similar attacks, that are perceived to be highly tolerant to anti-hacking security systems in place.

According to unnamed sources,

“In the United States, the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week.”

As per the initial assessment by the South Korean authorities, so far there are no signs of any financial damage, or loss of sensitive information related to national security. These attacks are considered to be driven only to paralyze the online infrastructure of South Korea and not for information theft.

Via AP.