Cyber Attack on Capital One Places U.S. Banks on Alert

Capital One Financial Corp. announced they were targeted by a series of cyber-attacks that may have been initiated by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters group.

The bank said it experienced a series of intermittent issues with their website due to a possible denial of service attack, but the problem was handled with minimum impact on customers. After experiencing problems for three hours, the bank resumed its normal operation.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters group also said via PasteBin that other banks will be targeted, including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and U.S. Bancorp (USB). Regions Financial Corp. stated they`re aware of the possible threat and security measures are set in place.

“We take online security seriously and are taking every measure to protect the company and our customers,” said Regions Financial Corp.

SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) also confirmed that preparations to mitigate any disruption are a top priority should an attack take place. Although the terrorist group did say that more U.S. banks will be targeted in the following weeks, no specifics about the nature of the attacks were revealed.

Security experts believe the tools used by the cyber attackers could be more advanced than previously estimated. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters said they won`t stop the attacks until the recently published offensive video about prophet Mohamed`s life is removed from all media channels.