[ISN] Internet Attacks Hit U.S. Attorneys' Offices

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Fri Aug 29 2003 - 01:20:51 PDT

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    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50967-2003Aug26.html
    
    John Mintz 
    August 27, 2003
    
    Justice Department officials said yesterday that a worm or virus has
    dramatically slowed 15,000 computers at 300 U.S. attorneys' offices
    around the country since Friday evening. Many of the computers
    remained sluggish yesterday afternoon as Justice's technology staff
    continued efforts to get the offices back online.
    
    The bugs affected 40 percent of the federal prosecutors' desk and
    laptop computers around the country, said Justice spokesman Mark
    Corallo. "No security was compromised, and it had no effect on
    evidence," he said. "It just slowed the network down."
    
    Government computer-security officials spotted the problem about 7
    p.m. Friday and then realized it had started slowing communications
    about two hours earlier. All of the Washington area federal
    prosecutors' offices were back to normal late yesterday, while most
    office networks elsewhere remained slow-moving, officials said.
    
    Officials declined to say how the computers were infected, or even
    which computer bug, such as Blaster or Sobig, was responsible because
    of "security concerns," Corallo said. "It's pretty maddening," he
    added.
    
    
    
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