Tag archive: Cyber Attack

A hacker or group of hackers managed to infiltrate the network of a water station in Springfield, Illinois, and caused damage to a water pump, reports the Washington Post. The attack appears to be the first time a cyber attack has caused this kind of damage to a computer system in the US. The attack was first discovered on Nov. 8, when a municipal water district employee discovered a problem with the city's Supervisory Control and Data… Read More

Sportswear giant Adidas has suffered what it described as “a sophisticated, criminal cyber-attack.” It learned of the attack on Thursday last week although following a preliminary investigation it believes no personal data belonging to consumers has been stolen. A statement released by the German company on Sunday said it had taken down several of the affected sites, including adidas.com, reebok.com, miCoach.com, adidas-group.com, while it… Read More

Just as WikiLeaks began to release tens of thousands of new US diplomatic cables, the anti-secrecy organization announced on its Twitter feed that its WikiLeaks.org website was under cyberattack. “WikiLeaks.org is presently under attack,” read a post on the WikiLeaks Twitter account, which is believed to be controlled by the organization's founder, Julian Assange. The post also provided a link to an alternative website where… Read More

News of yet another computer security breach has emerged which appears to be so monumental that the word ‘hack’ seems inadequate – how about a mega-hack? Or simply a thwack? According to a Reuters report on Wednesday, security company McAfee believes it has uncovered the largest series of cyber attacks yet, with 72 big organizations from around the world hit. McAfee said it thought a single “state actor” perpetrated the intrusions, and… Read More

The Pentagon has officially declared that cyber attacks on US computer systems, networks and infrastructures can constitute an “act of war,” reports the Wall Street Journal. This means that if another country hacks US-run digital properties, traditional military force could be used in retaliation. The decision is part of the federal government's first formal strategy against cyber threats. More details about the strategy will… Read More

With its PlayStation Network still crippled from a round of cyber attacks, Sony is reportedly considering offering a reward to anyone who offers up information that helps reveal identities of the hackers who launched the attacks, reports All Things Digital. The company has not yet reached a decision to offer a reward, but shows how desperate the company is to catch the culprits. If Sony does decide to offer a reward, it will reportedly do so in… Read More

The government of Iran has been accused of sponsoring an attempted cyber-attack on Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Skype, reports Time. If not discovered, the attacks could have left these major websites open to impersonation. The claim comes from New Jersey-based company Comodo Group, which sells digital authentication certificates that guarantee a website is legitimate through the use of a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Comodo… Read More

Over the past year, the Nasdaq Stock Market was repeatedly hit by hackers attempting to break into the network. A motive has not been identified yet, but federal investigators believe it could by anything including financial gain, access to inside trade secrets, or the ability to threaten national security. There has been no indication from the Secret Service or FBI who was involved in the attack on the Stock Market, but the hacker(s) were… Read More

Most people were worried about popular online retailers like Amazon and eBay crashing over the holiday shopping weekend, but turns out the real target was WikiLeaks. The site has been in hot water ever since its launch in 2006, but has specifically seen harsh scrutiny from the federal government in the last year. After releasing the “Afghan War Diaries,” the Pentagon demanded WikiLeaks return the documents and remove them from the site, both… Read More

North Korea has been identified as the source of high-profile cyberattacks in July that caused Web outages in South Korea and the United States, a news report said Friday. South Korea's main spy agency told lawmakers that the North's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications uses the IP address — the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number — that triggered the Web attacks, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported. The… Read More