The JP Morgan Chase website was down with customers experiencing intermittent problems and slow downs on Wednesday, a day after Bank of America had similar issues. Chase spokesman Patrick Linehan said they were working on restoring access to its customers and apologized for the inconvenience. Both banks have not however acknowledged that there was a cyber attack.
Chase tweeted this afternoon, "*ALERT* Chase Online is working, though some customers may not get in on the first try. We appreciate your patience as we work through this."
According to NBC News report, national security officials have said that recent attacks on JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are by the Iranian government. One official said that these attacks were under the cover of hackers angered by a recent anti-Muslim film.
Claiming to represent "cyber terrorists of Izz ad-din Al qassam," a group of hackers said that they would attack financial online properties until the film "Innocence of Muslims" was completely erased. The film has stirred violence and unrest in the Middle East, causing attacks against US diplomatic missions in several countries and the death of an American ambassador and three others.
"This attack will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie. Beware this attack can vary in type," said the statement on an internet bulletin board known as pastebin.com.
According to NBC's investigative piece, a former U.S. official familiar with the attacks, described them as being "significant and ongoing" and looking to cause "functional and significant damage." Also, one source suggested the attacks were in response to U.S. sanctions on Iranian banks.
"Iran's cyber aggression should be viewed as a component, alongside efforts like support for terrorism, to the larger covert war Tehran is waging against the west," reported FreeBeacon.com, a conservative website.
Read related story: Bank of America Website Hacked, Islamic Cyber Terrorists Take Credit
