[Dataloss] 18 million Korean user information lost

[Henry Brown]

http://www.thedarkvisitor.com/?p=305

According to Hackbase.com, South Korea’s oldest and largest online 
shopping site (Auction.co.kr) has claimed it was attacked by a Chinese 
hacker who made off with the user information on 18 million members and 
a large amount of financial data. It is further claimed that 
Auction.co.kr delayed 20 hours after the attack before comfirming the 
loss of information. Korean users rebuked the website for being too slow 
to act. It was confirmed that the attack was launched through China’s 
internet.

Auction.co.kr also confirmed that after the incident, they received a 
phone call offering to exchange the user information for money.

The Chinese hacker did not directly attack the server, instead s/he took 
a roundabout strategy. The hacker sent out bulk e-mailings to the 
auction staff containing “hacker procedures” (I’m guessing this means 
with Trojans attached). When the staff members confirmed the e-mails, 
the hacker was able to gain their IDs. The hacker was then able to login 
to the Auction server using the staffer’s ID.