The military has lowered the level of its cyber warfare readiness system to normal, about a week after raising it a notch in the aftermath of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death, an official said Wednesday.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said the information operations condition, or Infocon, has been lowered from Level 5 to Level 4. It was raised last Tuesday, a day after the North announced Kim's death.
"So far, we haven't detected evidence of cyber terrorism (by North Korea) against major Internet sites," the official said. "We have concluded there's a low likelihood of that in the future."
In the five-stage Infocon, Level 5 is in place during peacetime, and Level 4 indicates an increased risk of cyber attack. Only the chairman of the JCS can alter the level of Infocon.
Under the heightened cyber alert in the past week, the military doubled the size of its staff handling network security and strengthened its coordination with the government's National Cyber Security Center.
Once Infocon is raised, headquarters and operational commands of all branches of the service must immediately report any encroachments to their information systems and take countermeasures as necessary.
After the announcement of Kim's death, South Korea placed its military on a heightened defense alert to prepare for potential armed provocation by North Korea, without immediately raising either Watchcon, its anti-North Korea surveillance alert, or Defcon, its combat alert. (Yonhap)
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