By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities on Wednesday eyed North Korea as the origin of the widespread cyber attack that overwhelmed government Web sites in the United States and South Korea, although they warned that the complexities of the massive Internet make it difficult to identify the attackers quickly.

The powerful attack that stretched on for days over the holiday weekend targeted dozens of government and private sites, and underscored how unevenly prepared the U.S. government is to block such multipronged assaults. While Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission Web sites were shut down by the malicious software attack, others such as the Pentagon and the White House were able to fend it off with little disruption.

The North Korea link, described by three officials, more firmly connected the U.S. attacks that began July 4 to the cyber assault Tuesday on government agencies in South Korea. The officials said that while Internet addresses have been traced to North Korea, that does not necessarily mean the attack involved the Pyongyang government.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

South Korea intelligence officials have identified North Korea as a suspect in those attacks and said that the sophistication of the assault suggested it was carried out at a higher level that just rogue or individual hackers.

U.S. officials would not go that far, and publicly declined to discuss who may have instigated the intrusion or how it was done.

In an Associated Press interview, Philip Reitinger, deputy under secretary at the Homeland Security Department, declined to discuss the origins of the attack.

The fact that a series of computers were involved in an attack, he said, "doesn't say anything about the ultimate source of the attack."

"What is says is that those computers were as much a target of the attack as the eventual Web sites that are targets," Reitinger said. "They're just zombies that are being used by some unseen third party to launch attacks against government and nongovernment Web sites."

Reitinger, who heads DHS cybersecurity operations, said the far-reaching attacks demonstrate the importance of cybersecurity as a critical national security issue.

am I the only one that was dumb enough to believe that people couldn't hack into the governments computers?

I was in line before you but what do I know?

I knew for sometime our Government computers are hackable. People try it daily here. Small time computer nerds, some get pretty far, then they disappear. You don't hear as much about big time viruses or worms lately. Other governemnts are the only ones with the resources to break firewalls now. I am just surprised N.Korea can do it...something tells me China is using N. Korea as a fall guy. jmo

well I know people try to...didn't know they actually get through though. show's what I know

Hold on a sec, I'll hack into your computer and talk to you directly...

don't you DARE mister

While the media covered Michael Jackson's death for 11 days I'm surprised we aren't hearing worse news.

I don't beleive for a second that government is the only entity with the resources to break firewalls. There are too many very clever individuals out there that have just as much knowledge. I think they love the adventure.

Hell personally I think hacking has become a huge industry to keep security software people in business forever. We all know how people react to fear, works every time in almost every area of our lives from religion to politics to sesurity and on and on. I also believe that the people behind the security software are the ones that do most of the hacking which requires us to keep buying the software to protect our computers.

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no body would do such a thing, would they..? LOL

I believe to attack another Governments system requires alot of coordination. That seems to be done by other Governments now. Lone Hackers or a small group? There are many people that get paid as Government GS employees that spend all their waking hours monitoring and preventing attacks. They are part of the military and with all of their combined efforts and knowledge, no small time hackers will break through the firewalls. It is the next battleground. Not bullets and bombs but bugs and viruses. jmo