This Week in Cybercrime: US Banks Targeted by DoS Attacks

There is a report today in the Chicago Tribune that PNC Bank users were having difficulty accessing the bank’s web site since Wednesday. PNC Bank joins Bank of America, Chase, JPMorgan Chase & Co., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo which have all experienced attacks this week.

According to a story at Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek, “A group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Quassam Cyber Fighters claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement posted to the website pastebin.com, saying it was in response to a video uploaded to Google Inc.’s YouTube, depicting the Prophet Muhammad in ways that offended some Muslims.” However, few security experts believe the previously unknown group has the capability to mount such attacks without outside help, e.g., from Iran. [read more..]