Two South Korean banks and three Television stations reported that their computer networks had suddenly shut down on Wednesday.


Staff at the three broadcasters said their computers crashed and could not be restarted followed by reports of skulls popping up on some computer screens.


At South Korean Shinhan bank some services such as internet banking and ATM machines were briefly affected. Operations now appear to have been restored.


The common speculation is that the attacks are part of an ongoing series of cyberattacks by North Korea.


According to reports published by the BBC an official close to the investigation said the outage was caused by a virus, but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea,


South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, "We do not rule out the possibility of North Korea being involved, but it's premature to say so."


Last year, North Korea threatened to attack several South Korean news companies. Recently North Korea has claimed cyberattacks by the U.S. and South Korea as tensions heat up


Time will tell if this incident is another in the ongoing battle between North and South Korea.


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