Congressman urges US to carry out revenge cyber attacks on North Korea

Congressman Peter Hoekstra, the lead Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Times' America's Morning News radio show that it was time for the US, South Korea, Japan and others to stand up to North Korea.

Hoekstra claimed that if action is not taken, the next time they attack "they will go in and shut down a banking system or manipulate the electrical grid either here or in South Korea. Or they will try and miscalculate, and people will be killed."

His claims were quickly dismissed, however, with Alex Eckelberry, president and CEO of Sunbelt Software, claming that Hoekstra's claims are based on nothing. He said: “We have not heard or seen a credible shred of evidence that North Korea is behind these attacks.

“We learned a harsh lesson not so long ago on military action based on flawed intelligence and hysteria. Let's not repeat the same thing again.”

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: “No evidence has been produced showing that the government of North Korea are behind the denial-of-service attacks. A hacker can be based anywhere on Earth and command a worldwide botnet to bombard websites with traffic.

“Despite Hoekstra's claims - attacks like these don't need the backing of the state. They can just as easily be co-ordinated by a 16-year-old boy working alone in his back bedroom. If Mr Hoekstra has been advised by internet experts that the attacks definitely came from North Korea, I would politely suggest that he finds himself some new internet experts.”

See original article on scmagazineuk.com