South Korea was on high alert Thursday for more cyber attacks amid
suspicions that North Korea was behind a recent wave of website outages in the
South and in the United States. The South warned that computer networks of key
infrastructure could be targeted.
The National
Intelligence Service said in a statement that it was strengthening cyber
security measures for government computer networks, citing a possible new wave
of attacks which could target national infrastructure operators like energy,
telecommunications and media companies.
Earlier Thursday,
the country's leading computer security company also warned that another wave of
attacks was expected in South Korea later in the
day.
Seoul-based antivirus software developer AhnLab said
it has analysed a virus program that sent a flood of internet traffic to
paralyse websites in both South Korea and the United States. It said seven South
Korean sites were likely to be targeted on Thursday, including those of the
Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Kookmin Bank and the
mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
South Korean
intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces were behind
the cyber attacks in the US over the July 4 US Independence Day holiday weekend
and in South Korea since Tuesday.
Some South Korean sites
remained inaccessible or unstable on Thursday, including the National Cyber
Security Centre, affiliated with the main spy agency.
The
National Intelligence Service informed members of parliament's intelligence
committee of its assessment on Wednesday, according to aides to two of the
lawmakers. They spoke on condition of anonymity given the classified nature of
the information.
The spy agency declined to confirm the
information provided by the aides but said in a statement that the
sophistication of the attacks suggested they were carried out at a higher level
than rogue or individual hackers.
The agency's new
statement Thursday didn't mention suspected North Korean involvement and only
repeated it was closely cooperating with the US and other countries to discover
the origin of the attacks.
US authorities also eyed North
Korea as the origin of the trouble, though they warned it would be difficult to
identify the attackers quickly.
AP