According to media reports, the computer crime
authorities in South Korea have identified that six government
agencies, including the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute and
the Agency for Defense Development, have been compromised by
hackers.
On Saturday the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) announced
on Saturday that the Peep Trojan horse was found on 64 computers at
the Agency for Defense Development, the Korea Institute for Defense
Analyses, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Ministry of
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the National Maritime Police
Agency, and the Small and Medium Business Administration.
According to a statement by the NCSC, emergency action was taken
to clean-up the infections and ensure no further data leaked out of
the organisations. They also confirmed that they distributed
updated anti-virus software to help prevent the attack happening
again.
However, the NCSC declined to confirm whether any confidential
information was stolen from the hacked agencies before the Trojan
horse was discovered.
"Every government organisation which relies upon computers needs
multi-layered protection to keep out viruses, worms, Trojan horses
and hackers," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for
Sophos. "Computer security must be a high priority as the threat of
internet espionage increases."
Last month, a 30-year-old engineer suspected of being the author
of the Peep trojan horse was arrested in Taiwan,
after reports of Taiwanese government agencies being compromised by
hackers based in China.
Sophos recommends that companies ensure their systems are
protected with the latest anti-virus updates. Sophos's anti-virus solutions can be automatically updated,
ensuring the latest virus protection is in place against the latest
threats even when offices are unmanned.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
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