South Korea Suffered 114,000 Cyberattacks in Five Years

For a very informative perspective on how often and to which magnitude cyberattacks are happening worldwide, and especially against the United States, see the following live map linked from another post:

America: In the Cybercrosshairs

 

South Korea has announced that its government institutions have suffered more than 114,000 cyber attacks since 2011.

The figures were published on Friday in a report by the country’s National Assembly’s Public Administration & Security Committee, technology news site CNET reported. The committee found that 114,035 cyber attacks, ranging from attempts to access classified information to leaking sensitive data, had been recorded between 2011 and June 2015. Less than one percent of the total attacks originated from IP addresses in North Korea.

…

According to the IP addresses of the recorded attackers, more than half of the attempts came from within South Korea itself. IP addresses inside of China accounted for 18,943 recorded attacks, and a further 8,092 came from inside the U.S. The number of attacks originating from a North Korean IP address was surprisingly low. In 2013, three cases were recorded involving an IP address from the hermit state, and just two in 2012.

However, analysts say this does not mean Pyongyang is not orchestrating cyber attacks against its southern neighbor. Internet connectivity is famously limited in North Korea: the country reportedly has around 1,024 IP addresses compared to some 123 million in the U.K., and there is just a single cable linking North Korea’s network with that of China. Caroline Baylon, cybersecurity researcher at U.K. think tank Chatham House, says this lack of connectivity means many attacks which originated in, or were ordered by, North Korea do not show up in such figures.

“I would imagine that some significant percentage of what is being reported as China is North Korea. So it’s not surprising that North Korea doesn’t show up in the numbers. It’s there but it’s just not recorded,” says Baylon.

Full article: South Korea Suffered 114,000 Cyberattacks in Five Years (Newsweek)