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DDoS Attack at HHS Meant to Slow Coronavirus Response

By Wes O’Donnell
Managing Editor of In MilitaryInCyberDefense and In Space News.

On Sunday night, March 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was the target of a cyberattack meant to slow its operational response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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According to The Hill, the assault targeting HHS was not a hack but a distributed denial of service ( DDOS) attack.

This distinction is crucial in that there was no actual breach of the HHS system, which could have severely affected the HHS response to the pandemic. Instead, DDOS attacks use bots to overwhelm public-facing HHS systems.

Analysts within the U.S. government are currently trying to determine the origin of the attack. Officials have told Congress that the intelligence community fears that entities connected to Russia would try to use the current situation to sow even more chaos in American life.

This isn’t the first time that individuals have attempted to spread misinformation since the COVID-19 crisis began.

The National Security Council is currently assuring the public that recent viral text messages warning of a “national lockdown” are fake.

This story is developing.

Wes O'Donnell

Wes O’Donnell is an Army and Air Force veteran and writer covering military and tech topics. As a sought-after professional speaker, Wes has presented at U.S. Air Force Academy, Fortune 500 companies, and TEDx, covering trending topics from data visualization to leadership and veterans’ advocacy. As a filmmaker, he directed the award-winning short film, “Memorial Day.”

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