[ISN] Cyberattacks Disrupt Japanese Government Networks

[InfoSec News]

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MDSTRH0UZSHREQSNDBCCKHQ?articleID=26806122

By The Associated Press 
Aug. 5, 2004 

TOKYO (AP) -- A wave of cyberattacks disrupted Japanese government
computer networks earlier this week, but no damage was reported, an
official said Thursday.

The attacks, late Sunday and early Tuesday, targeted eight ministries
and agencies and caused computers to freeze up under a deluge of data,
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told a news conference.

Hosoda said the barrage also made it impossible for anybody to access
Web sites for the eight government bodies--the Cabinet Office, Foreign
Ministry, Finance Ministry, Justice Ministry, National Police Agency,
Defense Agency, Coast Guard, and Fair Trade Commission

He said there was no significant damage and that the networks had
resumed normal operations. However, he added that it's nearly
impossible to track the data.

"We don't know where the attack came from, or who did it," he said.

In January, several ministries suffered a similar, small-scale
cyberattack, temporarily freezing Web servers but causing no permanent
damage.

So-called denial-of-service--or DoS--attacks bombard a Web server with
so much data that the machine becomes unusable.