Presidential office website hacked allegedly by N. Korea

The website of the presidential office was hacked on Tuesday, the 63rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. So were the websites of the Office of Government Policy Coordination, the ruling Saenuri party, and some media outlets.

The website of the presidential office was hacked around 9:10 a.m. on Tuesday and showed a phrase praising North Korea such as “Our Great Leader Kim Jong Un.” The presidential office immediately posted the phrase, “The website is temporarily shut down for system maintenance.” It checked the website and completed maintenance at around 10 a.m.

It was also confirmed that the websites of three regional chapters of the Saenuri Party and some newspapers including E-today, Sports Seoul, Maeil Newspaper, and Daegu Ilbo were attacked. The Chosun Ilbo also had a temporary access failure but it turned out not to be the case.

The government issued an “attention” alert at 10:45 a.m. on that day and elevated it to “caution” at 3:40 p.m. A joint investigation team says this attack is different from the March 20 cyber attack caused by North Korea’s intelligence unit, which paralyzed the IT network of Korean networks and financial institutions in both type and attack path. But it doesn`t rule out the possibility that this was North Korea`s deed.

A group claiming to be Anonymous, an international hackers’ group, said on the same day that it successfully carried out cyber attacks North Korea. North Korean websites such as the Korean Central News Agency, Rodong Sinmun, Naenara, Air Koryo, and Uriminzokkiri had access problems after 11 a.m.