North Korea has hacked into smartphones owned by key members of the government, local media reported Monday.
A government official was quoted as saying “considerably important” figures within President Park Geun-hye’s administration recently had their phones hacked by the North. Railroad-related organizations also came under cyberattacks, although the incident was hushed up by authorities, the official claimed.
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| An offical looks at the screen desribing cyber attacks on websites based on Korea. Yonhap |
Earlier in the day, the state-run National Intelligence Service released a statement saying that probability of Pyongyang’s cyberattack is “higher than ever,” and that such threat has already materialized.
Park herself stressed vigilance against cyberthreats Monday, saying they could inflict great financial damage, threaten the national security and cause confusion within the society.
The NIS is slated to hold a pan-government emergency meeting on national cyber security, which will be attended by high-ranking officials from 14 government branches including the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Financial Services Commission and the Office for Government Policy Coordination.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
