North Korea's Internet Goes Offline, Attack Suspected

Seen as retribution for the Sony hack, North Korea has virtually gone off the Internet grid.

Problems with North Korea's internet were noted as early as last Friday when the network seemed unstable courtesy what is now being described as Denial of Service attacks. According to New York Times, North Korean networks were overwhelmed by requests or incoming traffic. While US's role has been hinted given President Obama's statement last week that he would launch a proportional response to Sony hack, the possibility that North Korea is taking pre-emptive action by shutting down its networks was not ruled out.

Given that widespread access to internet is non-existent, the network attack is said to affect the government and state run media. Bloomberg reported that North Korea has four official networks routed through China. Experts said it was unlikely to a glitch as the North Korea is completely offline. The White House has mysteriously declined its involvement by saying has said it will respond in more than one way.

North Korea's internet downtime is part of the Sony hack saga which saw hackers break into the company's computers and walk away with confidential information last month. The group 'Guardians of Peace' which claimed responsibility for the hack attributed its actions to Sony's movie 'Interview' featuring assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ever since data including client details, have leaked online causing tremendous losses to the company.

Investigators pointed fingers at North Korea which denied. It has also threatened to response to any US attacks with responses thousands times in magnitude.

"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the "symmetric counteraction" declared by Obama," North Korea said in a release.