(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on July 14) - Guarding against attack

The cyber terror attacks that have been infecting the nation s computers subsided
over the weekend. The Korea Communications Commission lowered Internet safety
warnings from caution to attention.
It is good that the cyber terrorism issue is being resolved without serious
damage in the early stages, although the source and purpose of the attacks are
still unknown.
Nevertheless, the attacks have left us with some painful lessons. The same
mistakes have been repeated because we are not prepared. We experienced a similar
kind of chaos on the Internet just six years ago, but our society s preparedness
for instances of cyber terrorism has not improved much since then. Government
agencies were supposed to have resolved the case in an organized manner, but they
have instead added to confusion.
Some in the political community have made the groundless argument that the
government wanted to use the case to incite fear about North Korea.
Eight out of 10 households have Internet service. From financial transactions,
electronic communications and transportation, to water supply and drainage, the
Internet is used in nearly all areas of life. It is terrible to imagine what
would happen if those areas had come under attack.
If North Korea is behind the cyber attacks, as the South Korean National
Intelligence Service assumes, our country has made as serious a mistake as was
made during the Korean War: poor preparation for potential attacks.
If we once again make the mistake of experiencing disaster and then forget about
it, only to have it happen again, history is bound to repeat itself at any time.
The other day the government released its measures against cyber terrorism,
including plans to establish a headquarters for protection of information next
year, which was earlier than anticipated in a previous plan. But time is running
out.
A decent control tower must be set up immediately and mid- and long-term plans or
addressing these issues must be carried out as soon as possible. Related actions
must be taken and related institutions must be well maintained. The budget for
data protection, which is just one-10th of the U.S. budget for the same line
item, must be increased considerably.
People must also increase their own data protection measures. Every single one of
us needs to protect the information we keep on the Internet. We need to install
antivirus programs and report suspicious activities on the Internet immediately.
Most of all, we must never forget what happened on July 7, 2009.
(END)