Nonghyup Cyber Attack Premeditated: Prosecutor

By Park Sae-jin Posted : April 20, 2011, 07:44 Updated : April 20, 2011, 07:44
South Korean prosecutors said on Tuesday that insiders at Nonghyup appear to have played a key role a planned hacking attack last week, Yonhap News agency reported.

The news reported that the prosecutors had secured evidence showing that a batch of computer files containing to attack a key server of Nonghyup were installed on a laptop owned by an employee of IBM Korea, a subcontractor of the agricultural cooperative lender.

The prosecutors’ probe showed that pre-set “delete” commands were executed simultaneously to destroy the lender’s main computer system, crippling its online services for several days last week, the news added.

The hacking attack destroyed much of transaction information including customers’ transaction histories inside the server.

“We see that the perpetrators prepared for the attack for at least one month,” an unnamed investigator said to the news, “It will take time to form an outline of the incident because it was designed precisely and meticulously.”

The source added that two or three Nonghyup and IBM Korea employees were banned of traveling abroad, who has been in charge of maintaining the bank’s network security.

Following the incident, Nonghyup online system were suspended for about six days last week, sparking concerns over local companies’ ability for computer security and personal information, the news said.





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