South Korea’s military recorded a record 19,000 cyber attack attempts last year, with activity linked to increasingly sophisticated North Korean hacking operations, The Chosun Daily reports.
Website intrusion attempts targeting administrator access accounted for the vast majority, with 18,792 cases.
The Cyber Operations Command said identifying attackers remains difficult because of techniques including IP spoofing and the use of overseas infrastructure. It assessed that North Korea’s cyber capabilities are becoming more advanced.
Authorities estimate that North Korea’s cyber warfare operations are led by the Reconnaissance General Bureau, an organisation under the General Staff Department responsible for intelligence gathering and operations targeting South Korea and overseas.
North Korea expanded and reorganised the bureau into the Reconnaissance Information General Bureau last year. At an expanded meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party on July 9, chaired by leader Kim Jong-un, officials proposed a major strengthening of the agency’s capabilities.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s military is facing challenges in retaining cybersecurity specialists.
The government supports tuition for students selected for designated university programmes, who are commissioned as cybersecurity officers after graduation and required to serve for seven years but many leave early.
Of 104 cybersecurity officers commissioned between 2016 and 2019, 89, or 85%, chose not to continue with long-term military service, according to data from lawmaker Yu Yong-weon’s office.
The office said cybersecurity expertise requires years of accumulated experience and cannot be developed quickly. It called for a more systematic personnel management system covering recruitment, training and long-term retention of specialists.
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