US government warns financial services businesses of cyber-attacks

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed media reports that the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has issued a warning to private financial services companies. According to the DHS, financial institutions face a threat of DoS attacks by "militant islamists" this month, as retaliation for the imprisonment of Al Qaeda members at the US military base in Guantanamo. Affected institutions may include online share dealers.

It is reported that officials discovered a call for cyber attacks on finance websites on an Arabic language website and issued a warning in response. The threat comes from a group calling itself "Anhiar al-Dollar". According to media reports there was no further information to underpin the threat.

(trk)