'Denial of service' cyber attack stops access to JPMorgan Chase site

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The consumer banking website of JPMorgan Chase & Co was temporarily unavailable for a time on Tuesday as the company tried to deal with a denial-of-service cyber attack that slowed access for some customers, company spokesman Michael Fusco said.

The latest problems on Chase.com came as intelligence officials said for the first time on Tuesday that cyber attacks and cyber espionage have surpassed terrorism as the top security threat facing the United States.

JPMorgan and other major US banks, including Bank of America and Citigroup, recently warned their investors that their sites have been attacked and that the assaults could continue.

Mr Fusco said the company continued to work late on Tuesday to restore normal service. He declined to say how long the Chase.com site had been down during the day. Attempts by Reuters journalists to access the site showed mobile apps worked, but efforts to log in through a personal computer brought up a notice that the site was down.