Bank of America website faces slowdown after cyber attack threat

By Katrina Jones Sep 19th, 2012 ( 3 Comments )

Washington: The online banking site of Bank of America slowed down on Tuesday amid threats on the Internet that a group was planning to launch cyber attacks on the bank and other targets in the US to register a protest against an anti-Islam film that enraged Muslims across the world.

A hacker claiming to represent “cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam” said it would attack the Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange as a “first step” in a campaign against properties of “American-Zionist Capitalists.”

“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, where hackers often post such threats, Reuters reported.

Bank of America said its website is available but some customers may experience occasional slowness. “We are working to ensure full availability,” bank spokesman Mark Pipitone said.

Asked whether the website was the victim of a denial-of-service attack, he said: “I can tell you that we continuously take proactive measures to secure our systems.”

But some customers in some states of the US complained that Bank of America site could not be accessed.