ATM Hacking Attack

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Police say that the March hacking attack on ATMs installed in convenience stores was likely to have been perpetrated by North Korea. The personal information leaked during the attack was handed over to criminal rings in Korea and used to duplicate credit cards.

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Police found hundreds of credit cards upon searching the house of a 33-year-old suspect surnamed Sohn. They also found a credit card duplicating machine in a box. Sohn illegally duplicated more than 90 credit cards since March and used them for payments in excess of 100 million won. The owners of the credit cards reported to police after they found that their cards had been used by someone else.

Soundbite] Victim of Credit Card Duplication : "My credit card was used illegally six times. The total amount of damage is about KRW 1 Mn."

Police have found that 230,000 cases of personal information used to duplicate credit cards were leaked from 63 ATMs during the March hacking attack. The investigation also revealed that the hacked ATMs were infected with a malicious program used by North Korea. This serves as evidence that personal information was stolen from ATMs by North Korean hackers. Upon tracing how the stolen information was used, police obtained testimony that a Korean-Chinese who did business with Sohn bought it from North Korean hackers.

[Soundbite] Lim Jong-wan(National Police Agency) : "The apprehended suspects testified that the hacking attack was conducted by North Korea."

Police are expanding the investigation, as North Korea's cyber terrorism could be in use lately as a way to earn foreign currency.