South Korean financial institutions should brace up for another cyber attack next year from North Korea which is suspected to have recently succeeded in sneaking into the intranet computer system of South Korea’s military and stealing classified defense materials, according to multinational cyber security firm FireEye Inc.

FireEye issued the warning during a news briefing at the 2017 cyber security outlook conference held in Seoul on Thursday. The cyber defense firm forecast the North’s cyber attacks targeting the South’s key infrastructures such as power plants as well as internet service centers will surge next year in its attempt to use the cyber threat in political negotiation against the South by stirring up fear on the Korean peninsula.

South Korean banks came under cyber attack by North Korean hackers in 2013, paralyzing their services for days.

North Korea’s cyber capability is greater than its economic and military power, Eric Hoh, president of FireEye’s Asia Pacific Japan business unit, said, adding that the cash-strapped country would use its cyber capability to attack its neighboring country’s financial institutions to compensate for the economic losses following a series of political and economic sanctions imposed against its reckless nuclear tests and long-range rocket launches earlier this year.

Hoh also advised to keep a close watch on China and Russia along for possible cyber warfares as most of the cyber criminal activities in Asia Pacific region have originated from China and cyber attacks from Russia increased before the U.S. presidential election this year.

South Korean public and private firms’ database management systems, including industrial control systems at public utility firms and intranet systems in the financial sector would all become targets for North Korean hackers, but their cyber security systems are relatively weak although the country is one of the world’s most wired countries. According to FireEye, a total of 43.5 percent of its clients in the South experienced one or more cyber attacks during the first half of this year. The cyber security firm pointed out that many of its Korean clients lack in-house online security experts and their online security systems need upgrades.

The multinational cyber security firm’s warning comes after Seoul’s cyber command system was hacked and confidential military documents were stolen in August. Military investigation team on Tuesday concluded Pyongyang as the prime suspect for the latest cyber attack.

By Oh Chan-jong

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