South
Korea steps up cyber security at nuclear plants
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[December 23, 2014]
By Jack Kim and Meeyoung Cho
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea boosted
cyber security at the country's nuclear power plants on Tuesday
following what President Park Geun-hye described as a series "grave"
data leaks, and prosecutors said they were investigating a new online
threat.
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Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South
Korea's 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday its computer
systems had been hacked, raising alarm in a country that is still
technically at war with North Korea.
Park ordered inspections of safeguards at national infrastructure
facilities, including nuclear power plants, against what she called
"cyber terrorism".
A government official said authorities had raised the cyber crisis
alert by one level for all the state-run companies to "caution" from
"attention".
The nuclear operator, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power
Corp, said only non-critical data had been stolen and operations of
the nuclear plants were not at risk. South Korea's law enforcement
authorities are investigating the leaks.
"Nuclear power plants are first-class security installations that
directly impact the safety of the people," Park said at a cabinet
meeting, according to her office.
"A grave situation that is unacceptable has developed when there
should have been not a trace of lapse as a matter of national
security," she said.
Within hours of Park's comments, an online user who claimed to have
hacked the nuclear operator posted a new threat and a fresh batch of
data on the same Twitter account that was used for previous threats
and leaks.
"We are now looking at it ... We believe it was done by the same
user," an official at South Korean prosecutors' office investigating
the leaks told Reuters by telephone.
An official at the nuclear operator said it was working to verify
whether the data had been taken from its computers.
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Earlier, the investigation team official said Seoul had not ruled
out the possibility that North Korea was involved in the
cyberattack, although Park did not make any mention of it.
The official added that South Korea had requested Washington's help
investigating the matter.
In recent years South Korea has accused the North of a carrying out
several cyberattacks on its banks and broadcasters.
The incident at the nuclear operator came after the United States
accused North Korea of a serious cyberattack on Sony Pictures and
vowed to respond proportionately.
Anti-nuclear activists in South Korea have also protested against
the use of nuclear power.
(Editing by Paul Tait and Jeremy Laurence)
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