The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has warned U.S. banks and financial institutions of a threatened cyberattack
by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
The group called on allies to attack the Web sites of U.S. financial institutions in December in retaliation for the U.S.
holding suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp, according to a U.S. government source.
US-CERT, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sent out the alert Thursday, but it has "no information to
corroborate the threat," said Joanna Gonzalez, a DHS spokeswoman. The alert was "really sent out of an abundance of caution,"
she added.
Such alerts are "not uncommon," Gonzalez said, although she declined to give details about how often US-CERT issues the alerts.
Asked if al-Qaeda has the ability to carry out such a threat, Gonzalez said she didn't have that information.
A reporting error in this story's third paragraph has been corrected.
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