Why is National Security Office helpless about nuclear power plant hacker?

The hacker, who leaked information about South Korea’s nuclear plants online five times and threatened to destroy them on Christmas Day if they fail to stop operating, has returned. This time, the hacker claimed to have hacked the telephone conversation between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The cyber-attacker demanded money after leaking the floor plans and videos of simulated experiments online.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said that it had disclosed the hacker`s demands in its press release last year, but refused to confirm whether the leaked information was true and was stolen by the hacker.

Lim Jong-in, who is considered one of the leading experts on cyberterror in the country and was appointed as the president`s special security advisor in January, pointed fingers at North Korea, saying that Pyongyang is presumed to be responsible for the hacking in a bid to divert the public attention from the recent attack on U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert. If it is true that North Korean hackers were able to sneak into the presidential office, it is a matter of grave significance.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy denied that there had been any trace of additional hacking since late last year or any sign of threats to the safety of the nuclear power plants, defining the nature of the incident as "not so much hacking as a psychological operation." The discrepancies between the presidential office and the ministry make it hard for the public to determine which is right. That is why the public remain anxious even though the government said there was "no problem" in the operation of the nuclear power plants.

Three months have passed since last December`s hacking of the nuclear power plants, but government investigators have yet to produce any tangible result. Even though the government has increased the manpower and budget for information security and announced cyber security measures at state-run energy companies, Seoul remains helpless about the hacker`s mockery of the presidential office.

After Sony Pictures was hacked last November, the United States was quick to launch an investigation and named North Korea as the mastermind. Just two months after the cyberattack, Washington imposed financial sanctions on various North Korean state agencies and disrupted the North`s computer network for retaliation. It is frustrating to see that Seoul has made little progress in the investigation even though key state facilities were hacked and even the presidential office was blackmailed. Cheong Wa Dae`s National Security Office and government investigators must produce reliable investigation results and draw up countermeasures.