[Iclickart]
North Korea is suspected of hacking the computer network of South Korea's cyber command to steal military information, the South's defense ministry said Tuesday.
It's the first time that the command tasked with guarding military computers against North Korean cyber attacks has been hacked since its founding in January 2010.
The command's intranet server was found to have been contaminated with malware targeting its "vaccine routing" server, the ministry said, adding the latest attack appeared to have been launched by North Korean hackers.
"A defense ministry investigation found that some military documents including confidential information have been leaked," ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters.
The cyber command said it has isolated the affected server from its network to stop the spread of viruses.
South Korea has blamed North Korean hackers for deploying malware and virus-carry emails for a series of cyber attacks on military institutions, banks, government agencies, TV broadcasters and media websites in recent years.
The defense ministry has said North Korea runs an elite cyber warfare unit with up to 6,000 personnel. It regards Pyongyang's ability to launch hacking attacks as a major security threat.
In September, Seoul accused the North's main army espionage agency of staging a cyberattack to acquire personal information from millions of people using one of South Korea's largest online shopping malls.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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