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SEOUL -- North Korea appeared to be unrelated to a concerted cyber attack on the infrastructure connected to this year's Winter Olympics in South Korea, organizers said Thursday, accusing unidentified hackers of using malware to destroy systems in a "malicious" scheme prepared for months.
Organizers said the attack during the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Olympics on February 9 disrupted some internet and television services, although any critical part of operations was not affected. At that time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed a cyber attack but refused to disclose the source.
Out of 300 servers affected, the attack crippled 33 servers used by organizers and 17 used by partners, according to Oh Sang-jin, a director general from the organizing committee's technology department. It took about 12 hours for organizers to normalize their services.
It was a "malicious attack which had been prepared for a long time, Oh told a seminar in Seoul on Thursday, adding that advanced persistent threat (APT) groups had attacked Olympic sponsors from December last year.
"I know that such an APT attack has not been seen at the previous Olympic Games. It was prepared for a fairly long time, and it was a malicious attack," he said.
According to FireEye, a U.S. cybersecurity company, APT groups receive direction and support from an established nation-state. They try to steal data, disrupt operations or destroy infrastructure. The U.S. cybersecurity company said APT attackers pursue their objectives over months or years.
Pyongyang was listed among those linked to previous APT attacks, but Oh ruled out a possible attack by North Korean hackers. "I do not think it's North Korea. We need to go through a further investigation before we can identify the attacker."
In recent years, South Korea has blamed North Korean hackers for cyber attacks on military institutions, banks, government agencies, TV broadcasters and media websites. However, North Korea sent athletes and officials to South Korea during the Olympic period as part of leader Kim Jong-un's sudden peace overture.
"Hackers launched an attack to destroy our system, rather than stealing information," Oh said, adding some 25 malicious codes or malware were used to destroy systems.
Russia, which was banned from the Winter Games for doping, has dismissed any allegations linking Russian hackers to the attack on the infrastructure connected to the Pyeongchang Olympic Games as unfounded.
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