S. Korea's military on alert against hacking attempts: official

SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military is on alert against hacking into its computer system, as a suspicious e-mail is spreading among its personnel, an official said Friday. All military staff have been asked to take extra precautions when they open e-mails from a sender whose address is "navyojo@hanmail.net," said the military official who requested anonymity. The e-mail in question carries an attached file, and if a user opens it, his or her computer could be infected with a malicious computer code that is capable of stealing information, he said. The military instructed its personnel not to open such e-mails and report immediately to authorities if they receive them, according to the officials. Some suspect that such malicious e-mails might have been sent from North Korean hackers. No information leak has been reported so far in connection with the e-mail, the official said. "We have spotted 10 cases of hacking attempts originating from overseas each in May and June. In July, there were 11 such cases and so far this month, six more attempts have been detected," the official said. South Korea and the United States are in the middle of their annual computer simulation joint military exercises against a possible North Korean invasion. The annual exercises, dubbed the "Ulchi Freedom Guardian," were launched on Tuesday for an 11-day run.