High time to tighten cyber security, attack on CIA raises concerns

In yet another High-profile cyber attack case, the public website of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency went down on Wednesday evening with Lulz Security claiming responsibility for the attack.

LuIz Security was also responsible for the recent attacks on the U.S. Senate, Sony Corp, News Corp and the U.S. Public Broadcasting System television network.

The CIA site initially could not be accessed from New York to San Francisco, and Bangalore to London. Later in the evening service was available but with disruptions.

We are looking into these reports, a CIA spokeswoman said, according to a report in Reuters.

Lulz Security has defaced websites, posted personal information about customers and site administrators, and disclosed the network configurations of some sites.

Security analysts have downplayed the significance of these attacks, saying the hackers are just looking to show off and get as much attention as possible.

In the case of the CIA attack, hackers would not be able to access sensitive data by breaking into the agency's public website, said Jeffrey Carr, author of the book Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld.

All they're doing is saying 'Look how good we are,' Carr said. These guys are literally in it for embarrassment, to say 'your security is crap.'

Lulz only made claims that it attacked www.cia.gov, and there was no evidence on Wednesday evening that sensitive data in the agency's internal computer network had been compromised.

But, there were no apparent links to Lulz Security in more serious network security breaches recently at the International Monetary Fund and Lockheed Martin Corp .

Lulz, whose members are strewn across the globe, announced the attack shortly before 6 p.m. East Coast time.

Tango down, the group Tweeted, pointing to www.cia.gov.

Although the group, also known as Lulz Boat, fashions itself more as pranksters and activists than people with sinister intent, its members have been accused of breaking the law and are wanted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

Lulz broke into a public website of the U.S. Senate over the weekend and released data stolen from the legislative body's computer servers.

In May, the group posted a fake story on the PBS website saying that rapper Tupac Shakur was still alive and living in New Zealand. Shakur was murdered in 1996.

It is feared that governments and the private sector are losing the battle against hackers. Chinese entities have been suspected in some of the attacks, though Beijing has denied involvement and said it too was a victim of international hacking.