Cyber Attack Hits Korea for Third Day
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
A fresh wave of cyber attacks knocked out key government and portal sites Thursday, fueling concerns that the third round of hacking _ which some blame on North Korea _ isn't the end of the days-long Internet assault that has been labeled a threat to national security.
Half a dozen Web sites, including those of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Ministry of national Defense, Kookmin Bank, e-mail sites of online portals Daum, Naver and Paran, the major daily Chosun Ilbo and online shopping site Auction, reported access delays and failures starting around 6 p.m., according to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's top telecom regulator.
The number of sites targeted was fewer compared to the first and second string of attacks that have brought down more than two dozen major South Korean and U.S. Web sites over the past couple of days. However, the KCC warned that more attacks could be ahead, adding to the list of local sites that have been crippled.
Cheong Wa Dae, the National Intelligence Service, leading network security firm AhnLab, Shinhan and Korea Exchange banks were among Web sites that experienced shut downs from the wave of distributed denial-of-service (DdoS) attacks that first began here Tuesday evening.
In an emergency measure to prop up disabled online networks, the KCC ordered the nation's Internet operators KT, SK Broadband and LG Dacom to deny access to nearly 30,000 virus-infected computers from logging online until they clean up their operating systems.
``We can't keep the infected computers from repeatedly jamming up servers,'' said Park Chul-soon, a KCC official, who explained that denying Internet access was the quickest and most efficient way to prevent further damage.
The financial loss caused by the attacks is expected to snowball to an astronomical figure as days-long shutdowns blocked hundreds of thousands of users from carrying out financial transactions, purchases and other business.
Hwang Mi-kyung of AhnLab, which has been at the forefront of the battle on cyber assaults, says that pinning down infected computers will be an immediate solution, but nothing more.
``We're vulnerable so the government needs to map out more concrete counter measures to handle future incidents,'' she said, implying that online security standards need to be ramped up in the world's most wired nation.
The government said Thursday that the ongoing cyber attacks were ``an act of provocation'' that threatens national security.
``We have to prepare for unrelenting waves of attacks,'' said Kwon Tae-shin, chief coordinator at the Office of the Prime Minister, during an afternoon emergency meeting of vice ministers. He pointed out claims that North Korea is behind the attacks.
``The alert system has been strengthened for suspicious activities at government-run networks and a 24-hour emergency contingency team is being operated for prompt counteractions,'' the NIS said in a statement.
The agency said it has distributed vaccine programs to 10 network security companies and was consulting closely with the U.S. and other allies to trace the source of the attacks.
The spy agency earlier floated speculation that North Korea or pro-North elements may have orchestrated the cyber warfare against South Korea and the U.S., as the Web sites targeted in the U.S. also belonged to important government agencies including the Treasury and Transportation departments, the Secret Service and the Federal Trade Commission.
However, South Korea has yet to officially pinpoint who is responsible. KCC Chairman Choi See-joong said the regulator will work try to get to the bottom of the case as soon as possible.