It's Urgent to Wage War on Cyber Terror

Attacks by computer hackers are often called cyber war or cyber terrorism that can inflict massive damage to governments, financial institutions, businesses, media and individuals in the interconnected world. So we cannot overemphasize the importance of cyber security as it is vital to national security, defense, the economy, finance, business, trade, information and communication. It goes without saying that the Internet has already become an integral part of our daily living.

South Koreans take pride in the nation's advanced information and telecommunication technology and Internet prowess. Korea is one of the most wired nations in the world. More than two-thirds of its 48 million population have high-speed Internet access. In a nutshell, we cannot live without computers and cyberspace. But these modern conveniences are not without problems. All users should be on alert over the spread of computer viruses and attacks by hackers.

National pride was hurt by the latest hacker attacks that disabled 25 Web sites, including 11 domestic ones, Tuesday and Wednesday. The so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks prompted the telecommunication regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), to issue a cyber security warning. The presidential office, the National Assembly, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other government agencies were caught off guard by the attacks. Web sites for Shinhan Bank, Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) and the daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo were also briefly shut down.

What's more surprising is that about 14 American Web sites were also disabled by similar hackers over the July 4 holiday weekend. The attacks reportedly hit several U.S. government agencies, including the White House, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department, the Transportation Department and the Federal Trade Commission. The attacks in both South Korea and the U.S. appear to be linked.

It is fortunate that the attacks did not cause any serious damage to Web sites and Internet browsers. There were no reports about a leakage of any confidential information from the affected sites. But we have to wake up to potential damage and unpredictable consequences such hacking attacks might bring to government agencies, banks, companies and the people.

We still cannot forget the nation's largest case of data leakage from eBay's South Korean subsidiary Internet Auction Co. in early 2008. Confidential personal information of 10.8 million users of the online auction site was leaked due to hacking. The site was also battered by DDoS attacks this time along with the nation's No. 1 portal Naver's e-mail service. It is not hard to imagine what would happen if hackers steal confidential information or secrets from such popular Web sites as well as the government's online networks.

We have to keep in mind that prevention is better than cure. The best way to fight against hackers is to prevent them from infiltrating cyberspace. Therefore, the government, businesses and households are required to make coordinated efforts to keep hackers off the Internet. The police, the prosecutors' office, the state intelligence agency and the military should step up their collaboration to guarantee cyber security.