Financial Institution Cyberattacks Signal Urgent Need For Security Bill

A seven-month long assault on America’s banking websites reached a new high recently

by Suzanne Choney

A seven-month long assault on America’s banking websites reached a new high recently, further proving that Congress needs to act quickly to pass cyber security legislation, the chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee told NBC News Wednesday.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., made the remarks to NBC News in response to an NBC News report which found that in the last six weeks, 15 of the nation’s largest banks have been offline for a total of 249 hours because of “denial of service” cyber attacks.

National security officials told NBC News last fall that they believed Iran was behind the attacks, which has hurt bank sites including Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC and as recently as this week, American Express. Initial reports then tied the attacks to a group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, which claimed responsibility in retaliation for the online video mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

“Based on my conversations with companies involved with defending against these attacks, I have no doubt that the Iranian government is behind them,” Rogers said.

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