South Korea issues cyberattack alert after it says many sites are hacked

[NBCNews]

   By Elizabeth Shim and Youkyung Lee, Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea said multiple government and private  sector websites were hacked on Tuesday's anniversary of the start of the Korean  War, and Seoul issued a cyberattack alert warning officials and citizens to take  security measures.

Government websites, including the one for the  presidential Blue House, and some media sites were attacked, according to a  statement from the science ministry. The statement said the sites were hacked  and that a team was investigating.

The government alert is meant to warn  officials and citizens of possible cyberattacks and urge them to enhance their  server and computer security measures.

The shutdown happened on the 63rd  anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. It wasn't immediately clear who  was responsible, but both Koreas have traded accusations of cyberattacks in  recent years.

South Korean officials say that North Korea orchestrated a  cyberattack in March that shut down tens of thousands of computers and servers  at South Korean broadcasters and banks. Seoul said in April that an initial  investigation pointed to a North Korean military-run spy agency as the culprit.

North Korea in recent weeks has pushed for diplomatic talks with  Washington. But tensions ran high on the Korean Peninsula in March and April,  with North Korea delivering regular threats over U.N. sanctions and U.S.-South  Korean military drills.

Investigators detected similarities between the  March cyberattack and past hacking attributed to the North Korean spy agency,  including the recycling of 30 previously used malware programs — out of a total  of 76 used in the attack, South Korea's internet security agency said.

The March 20 cyberattack struck 48,000 computers and servers, hampering  banks for two to five days. Officials have said that no bank records or personal  data were compromised. Staffers at TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN were unable  to log on to news systems for several days, although programming continued  during that period. No government, military or infrastructure targets were  affected.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said North Korea  was behind a denial of service attack in 2009 that crippled dozens of websites,  including that of the presidential office. Seoul also believes the North was  responsible for cyberattacks on servers of Nonghyup bank in 2011 and Joongang  Ilbo, a national daily newspaper, in 2012.

North Korea also blamed South  Korea and the United States for cyberattacks in March that temporarily disabled  Internet access and websites in North Korea, where a small number of people can  go online.

Experts believe North Korea trains large teams of cyber  warriors and that the South and its allies should be prepared against possible  attacks on key infrastructure and military systems. If the inter-Korean conflict  were to move into cyberspace, South Korea's deeply wired society would have more  to lose than North Korea's, which largely remains offline.

Related:

• Cyberattack on South Korea said to come from Chinese address
• South Korea on alert after hackers strike banks, broadcasters
• Report: Chinese army tied to widespread US hacking
• 'Not based in fact': China angrily denies being behind US hacking

[Folami David]

Hacking of sites has been happening a long time ago so it's nothing too new at all.
We have to accept that fact....