This undated captured image shows the defense ministry’s website. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The defense ministry’s website suffered service disruptions this week after being targeted by a cyberattack, officials said Wednesday, following the South Korean cybersecurity watchdog’s warning of North Korea’s possible hacking attacks.
The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took place at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, prompting the military to take response measures, a ministry official said, adding the website is currently back online.
The website of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also appeared to be suffering connection instability as of Wednesday morning, leading the Cyber Operations Command to look into the issue.
A DDoS attack refers to a situation where a large number of infected devices are used to overwhelm a target server or website with a massive volume of traffic.
A military official said authorities have blocked the IP addresses of the attack’s source, while noting that such an attack on the defense ministry’s website is uncommon.
Authorities are currently looking into who might have been behind the attack.
On Monday, South Korea’s cybersecurity watchdog called on local organizations and businesses to increase their data protection readiness, citing rising risks of hacking attacks related to North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia.
(Yonhap)
