2,700 hacking attempts on S.Korea military in year

South Korea's military has seen more than 2,700 attempts to hack into its websites over the past year, a lawmaker said Wednesday, amid growing concern over North Korea's cyber warfare capability.

Kim Ok-Lee of the ruling Grand National Party said the military's websites had seen 2,772 hacking attempts from July 2010 to last month, according to data from the defence ministry.

The monthly average number of attacks has grown from some 170 last year to more than 200 in 2011, the ministry said in a report submitted to Kim.

The origins of the attacks were unknown since hackers could easily disguise Internet Protocol addresses, it added.

"All attempts were blocked and there was no damage...there was no hacking or cyber terror on our defence intranet that is operated separately (from the websites)," the ministry said.

The South's military said in July it would expand its cyber warfare unit, launched in January last year, to better combat growing Internet attacks from the communist North.

North Korea reportedly maintains elite hacker units.

Seoul accused Pyongyang of staging cyber attacks on websites of major South Korean government agencies and financial institutions in March this year and in July 2009.

It also blamed Pyongyang for a cyber attack that paralysed operations at one of its largest banks for more than a week in May.

Pyongyang rejected those allegations, accusing Seoul of inventing the charges to raise tensions.

(c) 2011 AFP