N.Korea suspected of being behind cyber attacks on S. Korea, US

Washington, July 9 (ANI): North Korea is suspected of launching an unprecedented large cyber-attack this past weekend against South Korea and a smaller number of US government web sites.

The Internet attacks are not isolated, but closely tied a broader North Korean military strategy, including its recent missile and nuclear weapons tests, the Christian Science Monitor quoted analysts, as saying.

"The cyber attacks are part of an asymmetric warfare strategy," says Nicholas Eberstadt, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"Part of an effective confrontation with the US war machine would be the ability to disable US information systems," he added.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service "believes North Korea or its sympathizers" of having masterminded an Internet attack on the web sites of government agencies, including the office of the South Korean president and the foreign and defense ministries, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

Korea Communication Commission official Lee Myung-su said the computer virus had infected 18,000 personal computers and at least 11 South Korean government sites.

US sites hit by the virus included the Treasury Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Secret Service.

The Internet attacks represent a new area of confrontation in a period of uncertainty in North Korea dominated by rising concern about the health of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il.

The attacks on South Korean websites suggest cyber warfare may be in lieu of attacks long predicted in the West or Yellow Sea or along the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. (ANI)