The US government has sounded a warning to financial institutions about possible al-Qaeda-linked cyberattacks on the US stock market and online banking services. December has been marked as the danger month after the terrorist organisation has called for attacks aimed at disrupting online services and breaking into secure financial sites.
Warnings of potential cyber-terrorist attacks have been sounded previously, both in the US and in other countries, such as Australia. This time around the threat linked to the continued detention of suspects by US authorities at the Guantanamo Bay facility. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a “situational awareness report” to the financial industry. According to the warning attacks could begin on the first day of December and run for the whole of the month.
So far there has been little reaction to the warning, particularly as the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency tasked with distributing it, said that there was no concrete information or intelligence to back the threats. The only source of information is thought to be a website from a group linked to al-Qaeda that calls for cyberattacks in December, presumably focusing on the run up to the festive period.
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