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Daily Dose: Justice Dept. Website Goes Down with Megaupload

After Megaupload was shut down this Thursday by Federal Authorities, anonymous hackers in turn attacked the Justice Department’s website. This is the second time in the past six months that a government website has been under significant attack.

Initially officials claimed they were unaware of the attack, but by Thursday night it became clear that there was “a significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service,” and that it would be treated “as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption.”

Especially since the CIA website attack in July, shouldn’t there be a bigger team responsible to look out for these kinds of attacks?

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a component of DHS, is responsible for monitoring major cybersecurity threats for the federal government and the private sector, but each federal agency is responsible for its own information technology security — leading to a disparate, unorganized system of protocols and protections that costs taxpayers billions of dollars annually.

Should agencies join together to streamline and strengthen cybersecurity? Or should they continue with the system currently in place?

How was the Justice Department Website Attacked?


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“Daily Dose of the Washington Post” is a blog series created by GovLoop in partnership with The Washington Post. If you see great stories in the Post and want to ask a question around it, please send them to[email protected].


Previous Daily Dose posts:

Social Security Administration Worker Removed from Position due to Age, Race, and Sex

Another Government Shutdown?

Get off a Govie’s Back Already!

Secret Service Ready for a Busy 2012

Boxers, Briefs, or Ballistics?


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