Hacking Group From Russia, China Claims Credit For Massive Cyberattack

A hacker group from China and Russia claimed responsibility for a massive cyberattack that caused outages on popular websites from the U.S. east coast to Europe and Asia on October 21.

New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, though U.S. authorities said they could not verify the claim. They said they organized networks of "zombie" computers to throw 1.2 terabits per second of data at servers managed by Dyn Inc.

"We didn't do this to attract federal agents, only test power," two group members who identified themselves as "Prophet" and "Zain" told AP via Twitter. They said more than 10 members participated in the attack.

The two told AP that 30 people have access to the @NewWorldHacking Twitter account that claimed responsibility for the attack. They said 20 are in Russia and 10 in China.

Dyn, which serves some of the biggest names on the web including Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, and PayPal, said it does not know who was behind the attacks. The FBI said it is investigating the matter.

The hacking group has in the past claimed responsibility for similar attacks against sites including ESPN and the BBC. It has also claimed responsibility for cyberattacks against Islamic State.

Based on reporting by AP, Global News, and Reuters