We picked five stories for you. Have a great weekend!
1. South Korea and U.S. Agreed to Strengthen Cyber Deterrence Against North Korea
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held a summit meeting in Seoul last Saturday. In the joint statement after their first diplomatic engagement, the two leaders agreed to expand cooperation on regional and international security issues in cyberspace. In addition, the leaders announced that the two countries will tighten their alliance to confront cyber threats from North Korea. North Korean cyberattacks were not included in the latest joint statement issued on May 21, 2021.
2. South Korean Army Captain Accused of Leaking Military Secrets to North Korean Spies
A South Korean army captain faces accusations of allegedly passing military secrets to a North Korean spy agent. According to the indictment filed by the Ministry of National Defense on April 28, the South Korean military officer took pictures of classified military data with a smartphone and gave the images to a North Korean spy agent last February. The data contains second class confidential information related to operations conducted in both wartime and peacetime against North Korea. The indictment was released to the press by South Korean Congressman Gang Dae-sik on May 26. The indictment also stated that the officer was working as a member of a special operation force specifically focused on North Korea. In return, the officer was paid about 48 million won worth of bitcoin tokens.
3. Luna Suspended From Top Five Crypto Exchanges in South Korea
Korbit and Coinone announced Wednesday that they will suspend trading support for the cryptocurrency Luna on June 3 and June 1, respectively. Korbit and Coinone are two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. Withdrawals of the Luna token will also be suspended in both cryptocurrency exchanges. After the Luna crypto crash, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges suspended Luna one after another. As Korbit and Coinone join this group, Luna’s trading will be terminated in all of the five largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. According to the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, as of May 18, South Korean users hold 809 billion Luna tokens, worth 339 billion won.
4. Public Institutions in South Korea Fined 40 Million Won for Privacy Violations
The Personal Information Protection Commission of South Korea fined eight public institutions for privacy violations on Wednesday. In total, the commission imposed 40.5 million won in fines on the institutions for negligence. Three universities and the city hall of Ulsan were among the institutions fined. Kaywon University of Art and Design was hacked through web shell and Structed Query Language (SQL) injection, which resulted in personal information leaks. The South Korean government has been raising the standards for privacy protection for the last several years. The commission conducts security audits related to the public sector on a regular basis, where the personal information of citizens has piled up.
5. South Korean Cybersecurity Company Joins the No More Ransom Initiative
A South Korean cybersecurity company has gone global to deal with a growing number of ransomware assaults. SK shieldus, one of the largest cybersecurity companies in South Korea, announced on Tuesday that they joined the global No More Ransom (NMR) initiative. Launched in 2016, the NMR has currently more than 180 partners across the world. Not only do the partners share up-to-date ransomware information but they also offer free decryption tools to ransomware victims. According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), ransomware attacks are on the rise in South Korea. There were 246 instances of damage caused by ransomware reported to KISA between March 2021 and February 2022. Compared to the same period the previous year, this number has increased by 71%.
