Hackers attack information ministry's Web site

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/news/2000/08/__10/20000828_1038.htm

08/28/2000

The Ministry of Information and Communication fell prey to hackers who
managed to bring the Web site to a standstill for 10 hours Saturday.

The attackers used the same technique that paralyzed Yahoo!, e-Bay and
other big-time Web sites in February.

The assault started at 9:30 a.m., according to ministry officials.

The Web site was downed at 12 but all services were restored by 10
p.m.

The attack occurred on the very day that a nationwide exercise for
computer security led by the ministry ended.

The ministry has asked the police to investigate the incident
immediately, the officials said.

The hackers were not identified, but suspicion points to a domestic
group which has staged a campaign against the government's move to
regulate contents on the Web.

The ministry is pushing to introduce a rating system similar to the
film classification system.

Progressive Network, a advocate of freedom of speech on the Internet,
has recently led the movement opposing the proposal, posting messages
on the bulletin boards of the ministry's homepage.

The unknown hackers sent enormous waves of data pouring through the
ministry's homepage, giving their computers far too much information
to handle at once and making it almost impossible to enter the sites.

This attack technique is called "denial of service (DOS)" because the
computers' security systems are never actually penetrated, but hackers
send so much information through that practically no one else can use
the site.

After the attack happened, the Progressive Network announced a
statement saying, "DOS is one of legitimate methods to express
political will." (HJJ)

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