[ISN] Chinese Hacker Attacks on Korean Gamers Mushrooming

[InfoSec News]

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200602/200602030008.html

The Chosun Ilbo 
Feb. 3, 2006 

There is no failsafe solution in sight for massive attacks from
Chinese hackers who steal the sign-in names and passwords of Korean
gamers. More and more websites have become infection points for Trojan
viruses that leak users¡¯ personal information since last May, when
the MSN Korea website was first infected with the malicious code.

IT security firm Geot says about 2,000 websites fell victim to Chinese
hackers from November of last year through last month. Of the sites
used to spread Trojan-style viruses, 70 percent were Korean and the
rest Chinese. Geot presumes the Chinese sites are permanent hosts
where the spy codes are permitted to incubate unhindered by security
updates.

The character of the victim sites is also changing rapidly. Once
limited to game portals and media or cable TV homepages, they now
include public services including two public broadcasters, two local
governments, one office of education and a number of university
websites. More than 100 websites including terrestrial broadcasters
and sports papers unwittingly inflicted multiple damage because they
reacted too late or not at all.

The type of information being targeted is changing too, from access
details for well-known online games to user information of game item
market sites. Experts are worried that the hackers¡¯ range could soon
extend to more vital areas such as online banking.

The government announced an anti-hacking program for online games as
the damage spread, but critics say it fails to get to the core of the
problem. To tackle the threat at its root, the government should
legalize item exchange so that secure sites can be built and protected
by law, they say.