North Korean hackers

North Korean hackers are doing thriving business in South Korea through links to Seoul's criminal gangs. Police arrested 15 South Korean criminal gang members for hiring 30 North Korean hackers in China. The Northern hackers stole information on Seoul's popular online game sites.

They earned about $6.3 million for stealing online game programs for copying and marketing.

The China-based hackers reportedly obtained the personal details of 660,000 South Koreans.

It is nothing new that the money-hungry Kim Jong-il regime has mobilized hackers to earn hard currency for the North.

It also indicates how sophisticated and well-trained North Korean hackers have become. North Korea is purportedly home to about 10,000 hackers under strong state sponsorship, and hacking has become one of the communist country’s main exports.

Internet use is prohibited for ordinary North Koreans. The North's IT infrastructure is poor. The hackers are thought to command a wide range of techniques and are possibly among the best in the world. Seoul hackers have expressed frustration over the surprising level of dexterity in their northern counterparts.

Seoul identified the hired hackers as graduates of the North's elite universities, including Kim Il-sung University, with some beginning their training as hackers in middle school. They purportedly have the ability to paralyze the South's information and banking networks.

The possibility can’t be ruled out that these hackers may work as cyber terrorists worldwide.

The arrested Southerners must be subject to heavy punishment to preclude repetition of the same crimes. The North Korean hackers have recently dealt a lethal blow to the South's key Internet systems through its DDoS attacks. Police have identified the North Korean hackers as the attackers of the NH Bank banking network.

Seoul should seek China's cooperation in ferreting out these hackers. The South should also propose talks with the North over the hacking issue. The government needs to institutionalize its anti-hacking infrastructure.

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