Hacker Attacks Continue To Rise In Korea - Study

Computer hacking incidents are still on the rise in Korea, as a government agency recently forecast a record year in 2001 with attacks already exceeding last year's total. As more Koreans and Korean businesses come online, the number of hacking incidents has risen. Hacking has grown consistently from only 64 attacks in 1997, through 158 cases in 1998 and 1,572 incidents in 1999, to 1,943 attacks in 2000, according to figures published by the Korea Information Protection Center. This year the attacks continue unabated, statistics show. There have already been 2,278 attacks up to the end of May. The number of reported incidents this year is expected to at least double the 2000 number. According to the agency, lack of preventative security measures on Korean business computer systems, combined with the increasing sophistication of the attacks, drive the growth. Korea had 40.2 percent of all households connected to the Net as of April 2001, according to a NetValue study. A massive 64.9 percent of Internet access in April was via a broadband service such as ADSL, or cable modem - the highest rate in the world.