A top South Korean regulator called Monday for more efforts to protect the country's financial networks amid concern about possible cyber attacks especially by North Korea.
The military has already bolstered its defense posture since the nation's president was ousted last week by a court verdict over an influence-peddling scandal, with a new leader to be elected in two months. The financial authorities are closely monitoring any sign of market instability.
Jeong Eun-bo (left), vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, speaks during a meeting at the Financial Security Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on March 13, 2017, in this photo provided by the FSC. (Yonhap)
"Recently, the government raised the cybersecurity alert level, as there's an increased need to beef up cybersecurity due to North Korea's military provocations, the issue of deploying the THAAD system and the Constitutional Court's impeachment decision," Jeong Eun-bo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said during a visit to the Financial Security Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
North Korea has apparently been behind the hacking of some major websites here in recent years, according to the South's intelligence community. China is also launching economic retaliation against South Korea for its move to allow the US to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system on the peninsula.
Jeong specifically pointed out the growth of "new kinds of cyber threats" such as the spread of ransomware, smartphone hacking and DDos attacks using the Internet of Things.
He stressed that the authorities should stand ready for a swift and thorough response. (Yonhap)