Cyber terror alert as US computers crash at airline and stock exchange

A MYSTERY technical glitch led to trading being suspended on the New York Stock Exchange last night hours after United Airlines was also crippled by a major computer problem.

The US government has repeatedly warned of the enormous threat posed by cyber-terrorism and there was speculation that the outages could be connected.

However, the US Department of Homeland Security said there was ‘no sign of malicious activity’ at the stock exchange or United Airlines. Both organisations said the computer breakdown was caused by internal technical issues.

Hillary Clinton has warned that China is ‘trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America’. Hacking by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea posed a threat to US security and business that had not been adequately addressed, she said.

The stock exchange was back up after three hours, with officials saying the glitch was caused by software issues that initially affected trading of only 200 company’s shares.

Technicians thought they had fixed the problem but it returned later in the morning, this time affecting far more of the market. The shutdown was sufficiently serious that President Barack Obama was briefed on the issue. White House spokesman said officials there and at the State Department were monitoring the situation.

The FBI was also in touch with the stock exchange but said later that ‘no further law enforcement action is needed at this time’.

United Airlines, one of the world’s biggest air carriers, said it had suffered from a ‘ network connectivity issue’ and grounded its entire global fleet for more than an hour. Nearly 5,000 flights were hit.

The Wall Street Journal was also left unable to publish online after its systems failed and it was forced to switch to an alternative website design.