Beware of Homepage Forgery

The Ministry of Information and Communication on January 6 issued a “warning” against possible Internet intrusion cases which will take effect on January 7. The warning came as an increasing number of cases in which hackers intrude in servers of individuals or small-to-medium-sized companies lacking a safeguard against hacking and modify their homepages are occurring.

The ministry also recommended server managers and homepage operators to quickly upgrade related programs.

According to the ministry, hackers modified some 4,000 homepages of individuals or small-to-medium-sized companies (33 servers) from December 29 of last year to January 6 of this year, an average of 430 cases per day.

The “warning” is the third step of the 4-step response to an Internet intrusion case, which is serious, caution, warning, and attention.

Korea Information Security Agency explained that individuals or small-and-medium-sized companies tend to place their homepage servers at Web hosting companies, and a hacking attack on Web hosting companies leads to an intrusion of most of those homepages, causing much damage in a short period of time.

Detailed information on prevention of homepage modification is posted on the homepage of the Korea Internet Security Center. (http://www.krcert.or.kr)

Byong-Ki Lee eye@donga.com