Awareness of cybersecurity to increase

There is a swedish saying was that goes, ” Worry gives a small thing a big shadow”. This saying rings true, considering the recent cyberattacks on Korea. The current shadow is quite ominous despite no serious harm nor data-hacking was committed, but fear of an hidden North Korean aggression is overwhelming . However, Korea can seize this mishap to increase population’s level of awareness to cybersecurity.

As one of the most wired country of the world, Korea is exposed to an unprecedented extent. 93% of households are connected to Internet through HighSpeed Broadband, with an average PCs per 1000 population of 442. According to public statements of country’s biggest online security firm executive, the digital convergence of Korea carries even more threats : “Televisions and phones today are connected to the network and are designed with the same structure as computers, so you have to say they are potential targets”. Thus, a smartphone may become a Zombie and be included into Botnets, the vast group of infected PCs from where DDOS are launched.

The country is poorly prepared to ever growing cyberattack scale. By nature, the average customers are not inclined to spend money into expensive antivirus software. The government itself is reluctant to do so; budget for cybersecurity is 2 to 3 percents of IT-related amount.
Even financial organizations reacts only when threaten. Banks are now equipped since a cyberattack in February. It’s not the case for all others financial organizations : “Only a handful of major securities firms are equipped with systems to overcome DDoS attacks, and the rest are known to be vulnerable to such cyber terrorist attack”, leaked anonymously security firm source.

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Awareness is increasing . The government now engages structural plans to enable to separate local governmental network with civilian Internet if needed. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance will provide a cybersecurity center for financial and economical institutions within this year. More importantly, companies now purchase defense systems for their self protection. Sales reports record a boom for this range of products, pictured as a “flood” by an official of a security lab adding “After these attacks, DDoS blocking programs will see a rise in popularity”.

Korean situation is a warning for all countries walking toward digital age and ubiquitous society. One must prepare himself before danger is coming, not after, and the first step is self-awareness