N. Korea culprit of March 20 cyber attack

North Korea's reconnaissance general bureau was behind four recent hacking attacks, including the March 20 cyber attack on three South Korean broadcasters and three banks, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced Wednesday.

Computer networks of broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and YTN -- and banks -- Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju -- were paralyzed by the March 20 hacking attack.

Announcing its probe results, an investigation team consisting of civilians and experts from the government and military said it made the conclusion based on 76 malicious codes detected in the affected networks and South Korean detour routes used in the cyber attacks.

The North Korean hackers had distributed malicious codes to the affected networks through central distribution servers since at least eight months ago, the team said.

The hacking attacks were similar to previous ones, it said.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com