US Senate
US SenateIsrael news photo

Hackers attacked the U.S. Senate website “just for kicks” shortly after the CIA director warned that the United States faces a ”cyber Pearl Harbor” if security is breached, which did not happen – this time.

"This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from Senate.gov," said the hacker group that calls itself Lulz Security. "Is this an act of war, gentlemen?"

The Senate acknowledged the cyber attack but stated, "The intruder did not gain access into the Senate computer network. Although this intrusion is inconvenient, it does not compromise the security of the Senate's network, its members or staff."

Recent cyber attacks have hit Sony, Lockheed-Martin, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affiliate and the PBS broadcasting sites.

Despite Lulz Security’s claim it was acted just for the fun of it, news of the invasion came at virtually the same time Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta told the Senate Armed Forces Committee, “The next Pearl Harbor we confront could very well be a cyber attack that cripples our power systems, our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems.

“As a result, I think we have to aggressively be able to counter that. It is going to take both defensive measures as well as aggressive measures to deal with it."

Regardless of the intentions of the Lulz Security hackers, John Bumgarner, of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, said, 'It's very embarrassing that this happened that this was a government site that belonged to the Senate and was compromised.” He was quoted by the London Daily Mail.

The Pentagon said that the United States might consider cyber attacks from foreign countries as acts of war.