N. Korea's cyber attacks on S. Korean government offices on steep rise: lawmaker

SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's attempts to hack the Web sites of South Korea's health ministry and its related organizations are on a steep increase as the information obtained from such organizations could greatly benefit the communist state, a lawmaker said Tuesday.
The number of hacking attempts against the Ministry of Health and Welfare and organizations under its wings jumped over six-fold from 3,349 in 2009 to 17,091 last year, according to Rep. Yoon Seok-yong of the ruling Grand National Party.
The number has already reached 14,669 in the first half of this year, said the lawmaker, citing data provided by the ministry, which is currently undergoing an annual parliamentary audit along with the rest of the government offices.
"Once the network of the health and welfare ministry is breached, the hackers will have all the personal information of each and every one of our citizens," Yoon said in a news release.
Along with increased cyber attacks against all government offices, the North's hacking attempts against the National Pension Service and the National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) also increased sharply from 11 cases last year to 41 cases already this year.
An infiltration into the network of the two state organizations could provide North Korea with the vital information of how they manage their large funds, which would allow the communist state to follow their steps and make large profits in South Korea, the lawmaker claimed.
The National Pension Service currently is South Korea's largest investor with an estimated 340 trillion won (US$297 billion) worth of assets under its management.
Yoon also claimed a breach of information on the people's health through a successful hacking attempt at NHIC could assist North Korea in chemical warfare by allowing it to know what diseases and chemicals South Koreans are most vulnerable to