KOREA: Chosun Ilbo 'proud' of being attacked

'Chosun Ilbo' says it is the only newspaper in South Korea to be included in last week's cyber attacks

The Korea Times
Saturday, July 11, 2009

In the aftermath of the massive cyber attacks against government bodies and major financial firms in South Korea, Chosun Ilbo ran an article saying it was the only newspaper in South Korea included in the attacks. Now, its rival, JoongAng Ilbo, hit back with a punch line, saying being hacked is not something to be proud of.

In his Web blog, Roh Tae-woon, a reporter with JoongAng Ilbo, said, "I don't know much about the technical nature of the cyber attacks. But I want to share with something very interesting with you."

While browsing through various morning newspapers, Roh said, his eyes were fixed on to an article, titled "Chosun Ilbo, the only newspaper whose web site was attacked." "Then, I grabbed the newspaper. No surprise, it was written by Chosun Ilbo. I immediately knew that it was a self-promotional piece."

Chosun in the article said its Web site traffic increased more than 80 times than usual in the evening of July 7, the day of cyber attacks. Its system got slower because of the heavy traffic. Its security team determined that they were under attack, but to no avail. It added the Internet Web site of the presidential residence, Cheng Wa Dae, was also attacked.

Chosun's article then later said the Web sites of the Defense Ministry, the National Assembly were also down, detailing how its own newspaper Web site had been unable to function.

"Chosun Ilbo is really brave. It reveals its own weakness, saying it's the 'only' newspaper Web site that was attacked," Roh said.

"Chosun is even proud of being attacked," he said.

Roh's blog drew a flock of visitors. A visitor wrote: "I thought the same thing. I am just wondering whether being hacked is an indication of a good newspaper, or its security is simply not good enough."

Roh's blog was posted on the front page of JoongAng Ilbo's Web site Saturday.

Date Posted: 7/11/2009