‘Sheriffs’ recruited to fight hackers

More than 3,000 “cyber sheriffs” will be appointed to protect computer systems from acts of online terrorism like the distributed denial-of-service attacks that hit the country two months ago, the government announced yesterday.

The new plan also calls for the National Intelligence Service to be in charge of overall countermeasures against such attacks, coordinating with the private sector or other governments.

The Korea Communications Commission will handle identifying and eliminating so-called zombie computers as well as warning the public about the threat these compromised computers pose. It will also make regulations more compatible with cyber protection measures.

The Ministry of National Defense will be in charge of training the “cyber defense command” by next year.

The cyber sheriffs will be computer experts including those who have excelled at “hacking competitions” from as early as their teens.

Information sharing and analysis centers will also be set up in certain industries such as shipping and automobiles to prevent information from leaking during a hacking attack.

In addition, programs on cyber safety will be set up at select universities.

The attacks this summer paralyzed Korea’s major Web sites including those of government agencies and banks including the Blue House and the National Assembly. Many experts warned that Korea is more susceptible to these attacks because it is one of the most wired countries in the world.

“Just like during the DDoS attacks, Korea’s superior Internet environment may be used against it,” said the KCC. At present, there are around 16 million broadband Internet subscribers in Korea - more than one-third of the whole population.

The government stated that the July 7 DDoS attacks provided an opportunity to check Korea’s general level of cyber security.

Although some intelligence sources in Korea and the United States, including Korea’s National Intelligence Service, claimed that North Korea was to blame for the DDoS attacks, investigators were not able to determine the exact identity of the attackers.

By Cho Jae-eun [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]