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.

[Korea’s No.1 Anti-virus software]

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

POSDATA, an IT service provider established by Korea’s largest steelmaker POSCO, has announced the commercial launch of its IPTV service after a trial since the end of last year in Los Angeles where there is a high Korean and Asian immigrant population density. At the initial stage of the IPTV service in Los Angeles, the service offerings will be aimed at penetrating Korean and Asian American market that comprises a large proportion of those who has a quiet understanding of Korean culture by providing video-on-demand(VOD) of Korean dramas, movies, entertainment shows, etc. To ensure relable supply of contents POSDATA has cooperated with Korean broadcasting such as MBC, SBS, and KBS and worked with local partners in the United States who have a strong marketing network in the Korean and Asian community. Also, POSDATA has established a joint venture with Celrun, a diversified IP set top box manufacturer, and Acanettv, a digital TV platform provider, in order to facilitate its IPTV operation.

After a successful launch the service offerings will be extended by adding TV shopping malls, online education programs, Karaoke, etc. In addition, POSDATA has planned to combine its IPTV service with Mobile WiMax in which POSDATA has its own core technology. It is believed by POSDATA that Mobile IPTV will bring an edge to its IPTV business in the U.S. market.

Today, I went to the KNP (Korea Netizen Profile) Seminar held by KFAA (Korea Federation of Advertising Associations) and IMCK (Internet Marketing Council of Korea). At first session, KNP Research result was presented, which showed How Korean netizens use internet with statistical data.

Here are some implications based on KNP research results that the presentator said;

- In Korea, internet penetration rate seems to have reached its uppermost limit

- People are using Interent in  everyday life and have changed from infomation consumer to producer

- Mobile could be another channel for internet marketing

- Credibility of internet as a media is pretty high, a little bit lower than TV but higher than newspaper

The softcopy of presentation slides are not released yet. I’ll post about KNP with more specific research results and charts as soon as they are uploaded.