South Korea traces cyberattack to IP address in China
Servers for banks, TV broadcasters, and an ISP in the country were paralyzed by a massive attack, leading to suspicions that North Korea was responsible.
The cyberattack that targeted banks, TV broadcasters, and an Internet service provider in South Korea yesterday originated from an IP address in China, but the identities of the people responsible remain unknown, South Korean regulators say.
"We've identified that a Chinese IP has connected to the organizations affected," a spokesman for South Korea's Communications Commission told a press conference on Thursday, according to a Reuters account of the event.
The revelation comes a day after a massive coordinated attack on servers in South Korea led officials to raise the alert status for the nation's army amid concerns that the attacks were initiated by its neighbors in North Korea.
Authorities suspected a group calling itself the "Whois Team" of executing an attack on Internet provider LG Uplus. Two banks and three TV stations also reported experiencing significant hours-long disruptions.
Hackers in China have also recently been accused of perpetrating months-long network breaches at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, after which a handful of companies revealed that they too have been victims of recent hackings. Tom Donilon, President Obama's national security adviser, recently called on Beijing to put an end to a recent cyberespionage campaign "emanating from China on an unprecedented scale."