Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cyberwarfare

South Korea Creates Cyber-security Post to Counter North’s Threat

Seoul – Concerned by the growing threat of cyber-attacks from North Korea, South Korea’s cabinet on Tuesday approved the creation of a new presidential post handling cyber-security.

The post will provide a “control tower” for efforts to counter North Korean hackers, presidential spokesman Min Kyung-Wook told reporters.

Seoul – Concerned by the growing threat of cyber-attacks from North Korea, South Korea’s cabinet on Tuesday approved the creation of a new presidential post handling cyber-security.

The post will provide a “control tower” for efforts to counter North Korean hackers, presidential spokesman Min Kyung-Wook told reporters.

President Park Geun-Hye is expected to nominate someone for the new position in the near future.

South Korea, one of the world’s most wired nations, has strengthened Internet security since it set up a special cyber-command in 2010, amid growing concern over its vulnerability.

Seoul has blamed North Korean hackers for a series of cyber-attacks on military institutions, banks, government agencies, TV broadcasters and media websites in recent years.

The United States also blamed the North for a cyber-attack on Sony over its controversial North Korea-themed satirical film “The Interview” last year.

Pyongyang denied involvement in the Sony hack but strongly condemned the film, which features a fictional plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un.

More recently, Seoul accused Pyongyang of seeking to throw South Korea into “social chaos” with cyber-attacks last December on South Korea’s nuclear power plant operator.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Pyongyang again denied any involvement and accused Seoul of fabricating the incident to shift the blame for cross-border tensions.

South Korea’s defence ministry believes North Korea runs an elite cyber-warfare unit with up to 6,000 personnel, and regards its ability to launch hacking attacks as a major security threat.

RelatedRegister Your Interest For the 2015 ICS Cyber Security Conference

RelatedSouth Korea Nuclear Plants Stage Drill Against Cyber Attack

RelatedSouth Korea’s ‘Top Gun’ Cyber Warriors

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Understand how to go beyond effectively communicating new security strategies and recommendations.

Register

Join us for an in depth exploration of the critical nature of software and vendor supply chain security issues with a focus on understanding how attacks against identity infrastructure come with major cascading effects.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cyberwarfare

WASHINGTON - Cyberattacks are the most serious threat facing the United States, even more so than terrorism, according to American defense experts. Almost half...

Cyberwarfare

Russian espionage group Nomadic Octopus infiltrated a Tajikistani telecoms provider to spy on 18 entities, including government officials and public service infrastructures.

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Malware & Threats

The NSA and FBI warn that a Chinese state-sponsored APT called BlackTech is hacking into network edge devices and using firmware implants to silently...

Cyberwarfare

Several hacker groups have joined in on the Israel-Hamas war that started over the weekend after the militant group launched a major attack.

Application Security

Virtualization technology giant VMware on Tuesday shipped urgent updates to fix a trio of security problems in multiple software products, including a virtual machine...

Cybercrime

On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cybersecurity companies summarize the cyber operations they have seen and their impact.

Cyberwarfare

The war in Ukraine is the first major conflagration between two technologically advanced powers in the age of cyber. It prompts us to question...