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Chinese hackers attack S. Korean military websites

Posted March. 21, 2017 07:11,   

Updated March. 21, 2017 07:17

한국어

Experts said the recent hacker attacks are in continuance of China’s retaliations over the deployment of THAAD system on the Korean Peninsula as the attackers were heavily concentrated on the Defense Ministry and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), which involved on working level with the implementation of the missile defense system.

It has been reported that among the 132 cyberattacks against South Korean military this year, roughly one fourth (32) is zeroed in on the Ministry of Defense. Eleven cases, or 8 percent, were aimed at KIDA, which played a role in land securement process by proceeding with the THAAD interception simulation test. Four major military organizations including the Ministry of Defense, DAPA, ADD, and KIDA took the brunt of the attacks, accounting for around half the cases.

The South Korean military authorities explained that it is not easy to identify the agent clearly owing to the nature of cyberattacks, but it is assumed that China is behind the act given the methodologies and routes of hacking, which are similar to those of China.

“There are some cases of North Korean hackers staging cyberattacks in protest of the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve joint military exercises between Korea and the U.S., but a lot of cases are perpetrated by hackers presumed to be from China,” said a government official. "Disclosure is not an option for us since our tracing method could be exposed, but we’ve secure a great deal of evidence."



Hyo-Ju Son hjson@donga.com