Web Surfers Visiting Certain Washington City Sites Receive Malware Alert

On 31st July 2012, people using a few websites within Washington D.C. received one message that accessing and browsing the city's Internet site may result in infecting their PCs with malware, thus confirmed authorities, while upi.com published it on August 8, 2012.

The city authorities also stated that possibly the security message was triggered when somebody sought for exploiting faults within a computer system of Washington's government. According to them, somebody, on 31st July 2012, attempted at gaining admission into the City's Community Calendar software.

Spokeswoman Ayanna Smith representing the Chief Technology Officer's Office stated that in just one day, experts solved the problem and found that the attack didn't compromise any end-user's private data alternatively threatened to damage his PC. Upi.com published this.

However, users accessing apps.dc.gov found certain Google alert -the company habitually scans the Web to spot any potentially risky website- cautioning Web-surfers that there seemingly was malware on the site they were visiting.

Indeed the incident surprised people who were seeking for furnishing their parking payments to avoid twofold fines incase of too much delay, alternatively utilizing other websites that the District offered.

Reportedly, among the many that accessed Twitter for finding out if the website of the D.C. DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) was hazard-free, one person Joshua Miller, aged 34, didn't feel happy about what the agency said in reply to his question since he wished for fixing an inspection. Washingtontimes.com published this on August 7, 2012.

Miller said that the reply rather than stating there wasn't any problem asked him to change from Chrome to another Web-browser.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Newton Spokeswoman for DMV assured that the agency's online site was safe, while people could go on paying for their parking as also carry out other DMV transactions through it, published Washingtontimes.com.

Conclusively, it's evident from the aforementioned occurrence that cyber-criminals keep on targeting government sites at large. During the 2nd-week of August 2012, Websense a security company exposed a currently-running sequence of personalized assaults on government activists as also agencies which hijacked two Nepalese government sites while exploiting certain security flaw and planting malware onto users' computers.

Related article: Web Flaws Among the Top Three Common Vulnerabilities

» SPAMfighter News - 8/15/2012