InfoAnda - South Korean Web attacks might have been war drill |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

U.S. skeptical Netanyahu will back down: diplomats | International | | 12 June 2009
S.Korea economy may lose steam without domestic demand | 24 June 2009
IMF chief tries to shore up fraying G20 unity | | 23 April 2010

Iran grabs spotlight at UN anti-racism meeting | 20 April 2009

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : South Korean Web attacks might have been war drill |

Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Casey Anthony found not guilty of daughter's murder | 05 Jul 2011 Casey Anthony trial turned into media frenzy | 12:19am EDT Looking for answers, Casey Anthony's father bought gun 29 Jun 2011 Casey Anthony found not guilty of murder of daughter | 05 Jul 2011 Wayans brothers face trial for alleged joke theft 30 Jun 2011 Discussed 207 Minnesota government shutdown begins after talks fail 122 Obama: ending tax breaks required to cut deficit 102 White House snubs McConnell invitation to Obama Watched Casey Anthony found not guilty of murder Tue, Jul 5 2011 Casey Anthony found not guilty 2:53am EDT Obama on the debt limit 8:15am EDT South Korean Web attacks might have been war drill Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Hackers target Brazilian statistics agency Fri, Jun 24 2011 Hackers break into Arizona police computers Fri, Jun 24 2011 British teenager detained over cyber hacking Thu, Jun 23 2011 FBI targets two "scareware" rings in U.S., Europe Wed, Jun 22 2011 UK teenager charged with hacking attacks: police Wed, Jun 22 2011 Analysis & Opinion Tech wrap: Apple, Fox News hacked Ethiopia jails hundreds in Muslim attacks on Christians over Koran rumour Related Topics Technology » By Jim Finkle BOSTON | Wed Jul 6, 2011 2:02am EDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Attacks that crippled South Korean government websites in July 2009 and again in March 2011 might have been cyber war drills conducted on behalf of North Korea, according to security software maker McAfee Inc. That would make the South Korean attacks more menacing than recent attacks by hacker activists, or "hactivists," such as the groups Anonymous and Lulz Security. Those groups have temporarily shut down high-profile websites, including those of MasterCard, the CIA and NATO. Hactivists attack as a form of electronic protest, but the attacks on South Korea were likely Internet reconnaissance missions to test the impact that cyber weapons could have in wartime, said Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee Labs. "This stuff is much more insidious and much more dangerous to national security than what Anonymous is doing," he said. McAfee made the claim in a technical analysis of malicious software hackers used to launch the March 2011 denial of service attacks against South Korean websites. Denial-of-service attacks shut down websites by overwhelming them with traffic. The document, which was released on Tuesday, said the attackers likely built the army of computers that launched the attacks by infecting healthy PCs with malicious software at a popular South Korean file-sharing site. Once the PCs were infected, they became part of a "botnet," or army of enslaved computers, the hackers managed remotely from "command and control centers." That botnet was used on March 4 to attack some 40 websites in South Korea, according to McAfee. "It was a very rapid operation -- very constrained with specific goals," Alperovitch said. "The intent was to see what level of damage you can do in a very rapid time period." The hackers responsible for the attacks tried to make it difficult for researchers to figure out what they were doing. They encrypted their software, or scrambled it to make it difficult to study, and also programed it to destroy itself and its host PC 10 days after the March 4 attack began. It is highly rare for botnet herders to instruct infected computer systems to attack themselves. They typically try to keep enslaved computers running as long as possible so they can use their botnet to perform many tasks. The hackers likely worked so hard to hide their tracks because they wanted to make it difficult for authorities to ascertain the real purpose of the attacks, Alperovitch said. They were cyber war drills designed to determine how difficult it would be to take down key government websites in the event of war, he added. McAfee is a subsidiary of chipmaker Intel Corp. (Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Andre Grenon) Technology Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Social Stream (What's this?) © Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Wednesday, 6 July 2011
U.S. drones kill four militants in Pakistan's Waziristan |
Drug war bodies expose flaws in Mexican forensics |
Boat sinks off Sudan coast, 197 killed: media |
Nicki Minaj's cousin murdered
Hubble makes one millionth spacial observation
Matt Cain anchoring a strong starting pitching staff for Giants
Ongoing violence may hurt Iraq investment
Justin Bieber's Vanity Fair cover magazine's worst-seller in years
Tanker collides with South Florida bus, 25 injured
Israel airstrike kills two Qaeda-linked Gaza gunmen |
Al-Shabaab to allow aid agencies to return with limits
Two British Open champs in field may be John Deere first
Countries choose to drop 'Captain America' from upcoming movie title
Bolivia, U.S. negotiate to resume diplomatic relations
Chinese candy maker in joint venture talks with Swiss food giant Nestle
Verizon to eliminate unlimited data plans |
Commy message makes way onto Obama 2012 website |
Google, Microsoft sued over map technology |
UK seeks stronger cyber laws to fight attacks |
Murdoch advertisers get nervous over hacking claims |
Charlie Sheen to get roasted on Comedy Central |
Paris Hilton stalker arrested on Malibu beach |
Harry Potter's Radcliffe: I became so reliant on alcohol |
After Potter, Warner Bros eyes magic from DC Comics |
Pakistan panel says bin Laden family won't be repatriated |
Home again, Chavez salutes independence |
Thai PM elect looks at economy, firms fear wage inflation |
Myanmar envoy seeks asylum, U.S. pressure on rulers |
Japan to conduct stress tests on all nuclear reactors: report |
Palestine U.N. membership a debate for Council in July |
Libya denies Russian report Gaddafi seeking way out |
Somali man held two months faces charges in U.S. |
Sabathia, Granderson spark Yankees to rout of Tribe
Davenport, Catchings power Fever to rout over Storm; Indiana nabs fifth straight win
Cavs' top pick Kyrie Irving files police report against stalker
Hague appeals court finds Dutch peacekeepers liable in death of Muslims
Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills 2 Palestinians
Yani Tseng will be overwhelming favorite at women's U.S. Open
Madonna officially starts work on new album
Obama takes center stage for debt ceiling with invitations to lawmakers
Paris Hilton stalker arrested
Company suing Britney Spears says her conservatorship is a "sham"
Media moguls focus on digital dollars at Sun Valley |
UK lawmakers to debate phone-hacking scandal |
Lenovo's China launch raises questions over game console ban |
Expert pleads guilty in insider probe |
Ferraris for smartphones as Korea handset makers battle |
Hackers seize PayPal UK Twitter account |
South Korean Web attacks might have been war drill |
Paris Hilton stalker arrested on Malibu beach |
Chanel dazzles Paris with starlit haute couture show |
American painter Cy Twombly dies aged 83: gallery |
Transformers nears $400 million at global box office |
Bruins acquire defenseman Joe Corvo
Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott gets engaged
Israel sees ‘Chaos Dividend’ in Arab Spring
Egypt clamps down on organ trafficking
Kim Kardashian slammed over Casey Anthony tweets
Thousands of Ethiopians need aid after Eritrean volcano eruption
Predicting food price volatility
Poll finds Americans cutting back over economy worries
Slow reform stirs more protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square
China's central bank hikes key rates again to curb inflation
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01