Largest Internet Hacking Ring Uncovered

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200311/kt2003111917404012070.htm

By Byun Duk-kun
Staff Reporter
benjamine () koreatimes co kr 
11-19-2003 

The National Police Agency (NPA) announced on Wednesday that they have
exposed an Internet site of professional hackers with more than 4,400
members.

The police filed arrest warrants for two members of the group,
including the leader of the group who is suspected of having organized
Wowhackers, a group of professional hackers, while booking 11 others
on suspicions of illegal hacking of government office Internet sites
as well as those of private companies.

The leader of the group, identified by his surname Hong, is also
suspected of having deleted all the stored files and data of their
past work from the group¡¯s Internet server while he was under police
investigation.

``We are still trying to find evidence showing that they actually made
intrusions into Internet servers,¡¯¡¯ Lee Byong-ki, police chief in
charge of the Cyber Terror Investigation Team at the NPA, said during
an interview with The Korea Times.

Lee said they have already secured enough evidence to indict the two
leaders of the group on charges of violating the personal information
protection law.

The 24-year-old leader allegedly gathered a group of professional
hackers who won various domestic and international hacking contests to
establish a Web site of hackers in May 2000. The group then illegally
broke into Internet servers of more than 90 government offices and
private firms to steal personal information of more than 2.6 million
people and posted them on their Internet site.

The professional hackers attracted a large membership by teaching
their members the latest hacking skills and posting classified
information about government offices and private companies. The police
are also still trying to find out whether such illegally obtained
information was used in non-cyber crimes.

The group is also suspected of breaking into the National Tax
Service¡¯s Internet server.

Although cyber crimes, including hacking, have been a major growing
national problem, this is the first time the police has discovered
such a large group of organized professional hackers.

``There were two main leaders of the entire group and 17 top
professional hackers called `wowcodes¡¯ who would each manage some 20
professional hackers with little less sophisticated hacking skills.  
Those 20 hackers are called overheads and they in turn each manage
hundreds of ordinary members of the Internet site,¡¯¡¯ Lee said.

The police also are pointing to the group¡¯s well-organized structure
as an example that cyber criminals are becoming more organized.

``This shows how cyber criminals are growing in numbers as well as in
organization,¡¯¡¯ the police chief said. He also argued the criminals
were getting younger.

Out of 13 people who were arrested, eight of them were in their teens
while the rest were in their 20s and 30s.

The number of cyber crimes has reached over 52,000 as of the end of
September, according to the NPA. Hacking constitutes almost 20 percent
of all crimes committed online.

Lee argued there were a high number of hacking cases, because the
Internet server managers of private firms as well as government
offices have little awareness of security measures and their
importance.

``They need to understand that as soon as their server is connected to
the Internet their information is exposed to hacker attacks. If their
information is sensitive or classified, they need to keep them
separately and update their security patches regularly,¡¯¡¯ Lee said.

He also warned against threats from international hackers.

``Some 58 Internet servers in the country were attacked by a foreign
hacker last November in protest against the U.S.-led war on Iraq. The
hacker turned out to be a Japanese student studying in Brazil and was
arrested by the Japanese police; this shows just how important it is
to be safe at all times,¡¯¡¯ Lee said.


 
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