North Korea Steps Up Hacker Attacks on South Korean Firms

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http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/08/30/2011083000444.html

The Chosun Ilbo
August 30, 2011

North Korea attempts up to 250 million indiscriminate cyber attacks on 
government agencies and private corporations in South Korea per day, 
said an official with the National Cyber Security Center under the 
National Intelligence Service last Thursday.

"In the past, the North focused its cyber terrorist attacks on major 
government agencies, but it has recently been expanding attacks on the 
civilian sector, including finance, aviation, transportation, and 
electric power," the official added.

He urged private corporations to invest more in cyber security and wake 
up to the dangers of failing to protect themselves.

The NIS says the North attacks private corporations indirectly by 
hacking computers controlled by staffers of private firms that maintain 
and repair their computer systems.

A typical example was the paralysis of computer systems at the National 
Agricultural Cooperative Federation, also known as Nonghyup, in April. 
At the time, the computer of an IBM Korea staffer who maintained 
Nonghyup's computer systems was hacked by a North Korean unit.

The NIS has a great number of technologies to detect intrusions, but the 
North's hacking skills are improving by the day, it warned.

An NIS officer said the North's General Bureau of Reconnaissance has 
about 1,000 hackers who can create malicious computer codes and avoid 
detection.


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