830,000 Seoul National University Hospital Personal Information Leak Incident Attributed to North Korea

North Korea Seizes 7 Servers to Establish 'Attack Base'
Police Urge "Applying Latest Security Updates"

The Seoul National University Hospital personal information leak incident that occurred in 2021 has been determined by the police to be the work of North Korea.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 10th, the Cyber Investigation Division of the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced that after investigating the case in which approximately 830,000 pieces of personal information, including about 810,000 patients and 17,000 current and former employees, were leaked by exploiting vulnerabilities in Seoul National University Hospital's servers and infiltrating the internal network, it was revealed to be the work of North Korea. It is reported that from May to June 2021, they took control of seven servers located domestically and abroad to establish an attack base.

The National Police Agency analyzed several cases of major information and communication network intrusion incidents by North Korean hacking groups and concluded that this incident involved the same methods previously used by North Korean hacking groups, such as the IP addresses of the attack origins, internet site registration information, IP address laundering techniques, and system intrusion and management methods. Additionally, the use of North Korean vocabulary by the perpetrators was also a basis for this judgment.

The National Police Agency expects that attempts to infiltrate major information and communication networks will continue in fields other than healthcare and urged the strengthening of security systems, including applying the latest security updates and access control against illegal access attempts.

Meanwhile, the National Police Agency stated, "We will mobilize all policing capabilities to actively respond to organized cyberattacks backed by state actors," and explained, "We will strive to firmly protect South Korea's cyber security by preventing additional damage through information sharing and cooperation with related agencies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.