https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cyberattack-hhs-meant-slow-coronavirus-response-sources/story?id=69619094Suspicious cyberactivity targeting HHS tied to coronavirus response, sources sayBy John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Josh Margolin, Luke Barr and Mike Levine March 16, 2020, 10:53 AM
The Department of Health and Human Services experienced suspicious cyberactivity Sunday night related to its coronavirus response, administration sources confirmed to ABC News Monday.
The suspicious activity HHS was not a hack but it may have been a distributed denial of service -- or DDOS -- attack, according to multiple sources.
The distinction is important because there was no apparent breach of the HHS system, which could interfere with critical functions of the lead agency responding to the coronavirus contagion. The DDOS effort apparently had automated users -- called bots -- trying to overwhelm the public-facing HHS system in order to slow it down or even paralyze it.
Officials believe any coordinated effort -- if there was one -- was not particularly successful and are satisfied that the system was not significantly affected.
The focus, for some reason, is on foreign countries. Like Prog extremists would try to hinder efforts to fight the coronavirus?
