Hackers Compromise Personal Data from Nate and Cyworld Accounts

On July 29 it was reported by the Joongang Daily that hackers had stolen personal data from as many as 35 million Korean netizens with Nate and Cyworld accounts.
According to SK Communications, which runs both Nate and Cyworld, hackers had access to the IDs, names, cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses, encrypted social security numbers and encrypted passwords of an estimated 35 million users.
Cyworld currently has 33 million users and Nate 25 million users, the company said.
SK Communications suspects the hacking was done through malicious code, and the IP address used for the attack was from China.
The company reported the attack to the Korea Communications Commission and asked police yesterday for help investigating.
The Cyber Terrorism Response Center under the National Police Agency said its team will visit SK Communications’ database center in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul, to determine the exact details of the attack.
Police believe Tuesday’s hacking attack was Korea’s biggest ever.
On August 3 The Washington Post published an interesting report on widespread cyber-spying. According to the report, a leading computer security firm has used logs produced by a single server to trace the hacking of more than 70 corporations and government organizations over many months, and experts familiar with the analysis say the snooping probably originated in China.Google’s disclosure early last year that hackers in China had broken into its networks and stolen valuable source code was a watershed moment: A major U.S. company volunteered that it had been hacked. Google also said that more than 20 other large companies were similarly targeted.

North and South Korea Skirmish in Cyberspace

As reported by Yonhap News, in a story that is likely to get wide international exposure, hackers (reportedly South Korean) have breached North Korea's official Twitter and YouTube accounts.  Moreover, as The Washington Post noted, they did so on the birthday of heir apparent, Kim Jong Eun.  North Korea's use of Twitter and YouTube was noted in earlier posts and today's news is just the latest evidence that the two nations are taking their conflict into the realm of cyberspace.
Put on the North's YouTube account as early as Friday, a two-minute-long animation depicted Kim Jong-un as a ruthless killer driving a sports car and teasing his father to buy him fancy birthday gifts. On Twitter, the North's account -- which normally carried tweets praising Kim Jong-il and denouncing South Korea and the United States -- sent out feeds that called on North Koreans to rise against the Kim dynasty and put an end to poverty.
The high-tech war of nerves involving South Korean hackers, if confirmed, could indicate a new phase in the long running rivalry between North and South Korea.  Yonhap reported that one South Korean user wrote on Nate, another internet portal, that "we have done what our defense ministry was unable to do."  Others hailed the hacking as retaliation for North Korea's recent artillery attack on a South Korean island in the West Sea.

Korean Cyber-Warfare

The Korean War may have ended in an armistice, but it seems to be continuing in cyberspace.  The latest evidence of this is in press reports that the South Korean-U.S. joint war plans, referred to as Operation Plan 5027, may have been hacked.  According to The Korea Times, the Defense Ministry announced that computer hackers who may be from North Korea might have gained access to this secret plan.
The Chosun Ilbo reported that an officer with the U.S.-Korea Joint Forces Command had used an unsecured USB memory stick and that, in the process, some contents of the secret plan were accessed by a hacker with a Chinese IP address.  North Korea is believed to have military personnel who specialize in hacking.

Hacking and Viruses in South Korea

On June 3 the Korea Times and other local newspapers reported that the web site of McDonald's Corporation in Korea had been hacked, apparently in connection with the public protests against import of American beef. Although this may be one of the latest hacking incidents to be publicized, it is part of a larger trend in recent years. Data from Korea's Cyber Terror Response Center show that hacking and virus related crimes increased dramatically from 2003 through 2006, and have declined somewhat since then. A recent article in the Joongang Daily notes that "In Korea there are about 30,000 information security workers, about 4 percent of all IT professionals. Investment in security is about 5 percent of all investment in IT, compared to 10 percent in most advanced countries." Data on the number of hacking incidents involving public sector networks in Korea showed a similar pattern. For further information on these phenomena in South Korea, consult the website of the Cyber Terror Response Center or the Criminal Investigation Statistics on the website of the Korea National Policy Agency.