ID :
200597
Thu, 08/11/2011 - 09:44
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/200597
The shortlink copeid
Top-notch hacker in China behind SK Communications' security breach: police
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- An unidentified top-tier hacker based in China is highly likely to be the culprit behind the massive hacking attack that compromised personal information of some 35 million users of the country's two popular sister Web sites last month, police said Thursday.
SK Communications Co., the operator of the Nate portal and Cyworld social networking service, said last month a hacker broke into its servers and stole user data, including names, birth dates, email addresses, phone number and encrypted social security numbers.
China was found to be the country where the unidentified hacker was based when the cyber assault took place in late July, the police said.
After the communications firm reported the hacking to police on July 28, police looked into 40 units of computers belonging to SK Communications and Est Soft, a unaffiliated local anti-virus software company whose online programs were used when the hacker broke into the servers.
Police have yet to identify the attacker, but he or she is highly likely to be a top-notch professional given the state-of-the-art malicious codes used in the latest security breach, the police agency noted.
The stolen personal information of 35 million users was found to have already been relayed to a Chinese Internet Protocol address through an external channel server, the agency also noted.
The unknown hacker implanted malicious codes into update files of Est Soft's anti-virus programs installed in SK Communications' in-house PCs, paralyzing 62 of them. Through the paralyzed zombie PCs, the attacker gained an ID and password that was then used to connect to and steal the database of user information on July 26-27, according to the police.
The hacker seems to have targeted only SK Communications servers, and no individual computers were attacked, the agency added.
The local police will seek cooperation from Chinese police officials in order to retrieve the stolen personal information, it noted.
"As of now, users should focus on detecting contaminated zombie PCs (to shut out hacking attempts) rather than relying entirely on anti-virus programs," a police official said.
SK Communications Co., the operator of the Nate portal and Cyworld social networking service, said last month a hacker broke into its servers and stole user data, including names, birth dates, email addresses, phone number and encrypted social security numbers.
China was found to be the country where the unidentified hacker was based when the cyber assault took place in late July, the police said.
After the communications firm reported the hacking to police on July 28, police looked into 40 units of computers belonging to SK Communications and Est Soft, a unaffiliated local anti-virus software company whose online programs were used when the hacker broke into the servers.
Police have yet to identify the attacker, but he or she is highly likely to be a top-notch professional given the state-of-the-art malicious codes used in the latest security breach, the police agency noted.
The stolen personal information of 35 million users was found to have already been relayed to a Chinese Internet Protocol address through an external channel server, the agency also noted.
The unknown hacker implanted malicious codes into update files of Est Soft's anti-virus programs installed in SK Communications' in-house PCs, paralyzing 62 of them. Through the paralyzed zombie PCs, the attacker gained an ID and password that was then used to connect to and steal the database of user information on July 26-27, according to the police.
The hacker seems to have targeted only SK Communications servers, and no individual computers were attacked, the agency added.
The local police will seek cooperation from Chinese police officials in order to retrieve the stolen personal information, it noted.
"As of now, users should focus on detecting contaminated zombie PCs (to shut out hacking attempts) rather than relying entirely on anti-virus programs," a police official said.
