Did North Korea attack Washington?
Updated on 08 July 2009
Government websites in America have come under attack from hackers and officials suspect North Korea may be to blame.
The attack on 4 July disabled the sites of the treasury department, the secret service and other agencies.
Several commercial websites were affected too, including the Washington Post.
American officials have refused to discuss the attack but Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the homeland security department confirmed the US computer emergency readiness team sent a notice to government departments advising them how to "help mitigate against such attacks".
It has been described as a "denial of service" attack and it seems unusually long and sophisticated because sites were still affected three days after the attack began.
Attacks on the Washington computers are common. The most serious assaults are sometimes blamed on China but there are also fears that terrorists could carry out cyber attacks.
Intelligence officials in South Korea have pointed the finger for the latest attack at their neighbours in North Korea.
Sites in South Korea have had problems of their own this week and the national intelligence service, South Korea's main spy agency, believes North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the south were behind the attacks.
