BOK hit by 97 cyberattacks last year, reports no cases linked to North

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The Bank of Korea (BOK) experienced 97 cyberattacks last year, including one instance of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, according to National Assembly officials, Tuesday.

The data submitted by the central bank to the Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee showed that the bank’s official website was subject to a DDoS attack on Dec. 19.

DDoS is a type of cyberattack that increases internet traffic beyond the extent that the attacked company’s servers can handle, blocking access for legitimate users.

The Dec. 19 attack caused intermittent access delays on the bank’s website for a period of time. However, the fact that it was a DDoS attack was not disclosed to the public immediately after the incident.

This was the first time in four years the central bank had experienced a DDoS attack.

“There were no significant disruptions that would be noticeable to regular users,” a BOK official said. “Since then, the bank has been consistently conducting training exercises, including simulated cyberattack scenarios, to prevent future incidents.”

Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong speaks during a National Assembly audit at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Including the DDoS attack, there were 97 cyberattacks in total against the BOK last year.

In particular, nine out of the 97 attempts were classified as “effective cyberattacks” that could potentially harm the bank’s information systems or users. This is the highest number recorded since 2019, when there were 15 such cases.

By type, unauthorized access attempts were the most common with 82 cases, followed by 12 cases of malware phishing attacks, two cases of information gathering and one DDoS attack.

By region, 88 of these attempts originated from overseas, while nine came from within the country.

Among the attacks originating from overseas, the highest numbers were from the United States with 35 cases, followed by China with three cases and Brazil with one case. No attempts were attributed to North Korea.

According to the bank, even up to August this year, there have been 45 cyberattacks, focused primarily on unauthorized access attempts, indicating that attacks against the bank continue.