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Hacking Damages Less Than Expected

Posted July. 06, 2003 21:47,   

한국어

An international hacking competition, held by an unknown hacker group at 3 p.m. on July 6, had little impact on the nation.

The websites hacked in the nation were four, less than the normal level (11), as of 4:40 p.m. on July 6, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

“Since the news of the competition, those responsible for computer systems in financial institutions, government agencies and other companies have been prepared for possible hackings,” said Kim Jung-won, an MIC official. “This is why the damages were less than expected although it was Sunday. But we can`t be sure until the competition ends,” he added.

Meanwhile, Defacers, the host of the event, announced at 4 p.m. that the competition would be extended to 6 a.m. on July 7 (Korean Time).

The server of Defacers is apparently based in Estonia but the operator is still unknown.

Although underground hacker organizations hold similar competitions every year, there have not been a lot of damages since hackers only need to have evidences that they break into websites. However, this time, many are uneasy about the damages since the rules require hackers to falsify the initial page of websites.

In order to prevent hackings, the password for managers should be changed into a longer one with special characters and a patch file for hacking prevention can be downloaded on the Internet (www.certcc.or.kr). If assaulted by hackers, call 118 (the Korea Information Security Agency) to receive technical support.



Seong-Yub Ra cpu@donga.com