14 DAY TRIAL // The websites of South Korean media outlets that focus on reports about North Korea and the ones of North Korean defector groups were disrupted on Tuesday by what appeared to be a cyberattack.
The Yonhap News Agency informs that one of the victims is Daily NK, a South Korea-based online publication run by the North Korean government’s opponents.
The precise source of the attack has not been identified, but according to a statement from Daily NK, the cyberattack that hit their systems and disrupted both their English and Chinese websites for around one hour has been routed through the United States.
NKnet, NK Intellectuals Solidarity and Free North Korea Radio were also hit a few hours ago. Free North Korea Radio reported that its website was “completely destroyed” as a result of the attack.
“We have blocked all IP addresses implicated in the hacking. However, given ample possibility for it to continue by a different route, we are continuing to closely monitor and manage the situation,” NK Daily representatives explained.
“The attack was aimed at databases and was designed to blow away the entire system. Based on this, we can say that their target was clearly pre-ordained and the aim was to completely incapacitate it.”
This series of attacks comes after the systems of several major South Korean financial institutions and broadcasters were disrupted last week. It’s believed that around 32,000 computers were impacted by a piece of malware designed to wipe information from computers.
The attackers placed the malicious elements on the targeted computers and programmed them to step into action on March 20 at 2PM.
To plant the malware, the cybercriminals used spear phishing emails and abused the patch management system of South Korean antivirus company AhnLab.