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Intelligence Director: Non-State Actor Likely To Blame For Massive Cyberattack

NEW YORK (CBSNewYrok/AP) -- National Intelligence Director James Clapper said it appears that a "non-state actor'' was behind a massive cyberattack last week that briefly blocked access to websites, including Twitter and Netflix.

Speaking Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Clapper said investigators are gathering a lot of data and preliminary indications are that a non-state actor is to blame.

But he said he wouldn't want to completely rule out whether a nation state might have been behind it or not.

Last Friday, cyberattacks crippled New Hampshire-based Dyn, a major internet firm. The cyberattack blocked half of East Coast web users from accessing hugely popular websites, including Twitter, Netflix, Amazon and Spotify.

Members of a shadowy hacker group that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack, but that claim could not be verified.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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