Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean Rating Board

Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean Rating Board

July 9, 2009

There is a bizarre report from Korea today about a man who authorities say launched a denial of service attack on the nation's game content ratings board.

According to JoongAng Daily, the man, identified only as Choi, age 39, is the CEO of a company that helps game developers with the content rating process. Choi reportedly accepted an advance payment from an unnamed game developer who then complained when the rating process did not progress quickly enough.

Police say that, in order to generate an excuse for the rating delay, Choi purchased a hacking program and launched attacks on the game rating board:

[Choi] made postings on Internet bulletins... saying “MP3 files can be downloaded for free” with a link to a separate Web site. If people clicked on the site, they were directed to a pornographic video. While watching the video, the hacking program Choi had bought from China infected the watchers’ computers with a virus. These so-called zombies computers were then used for a distributed denial-of-service attack...

Choi managed to freeze the Game Rating Board 10 times between March 4 and 22, mobilizing some 7,400 hijacked computers...

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Comments

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by Liekos - July 9, 2009 at 12:09 pm -0500

Choi, age 39, is the CEO of a company that helps game developers with the content rating process

[Choi] made postings on Internet bulletins... saying “MP3 files can be downloaded for free” with a link to a separate Web site. If people clicked on the site, they were directed to a pornographic video. While watching the video, the hacking program Choi had bought from China infected the watchers’ computers with a virus.

Priceless.  The CEO of a company that assists with content ratings directs children and adults alike to a porn video.  You just can't make this crap up.

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by chadachada321 - July 9, 2009 at 12:35 pm -0500

I'm interested in the legality of it all. What laws exactly did he break? Clearly the fact that he infected other people's computers with viruses is one problem, and potential fraud for wanting to delay the rating process, but is it illegal there to DOS your own website? Many questions like that abound.

-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by DarkSaber - July 9, 2009 at 12:37 pm -0500

It wasn't his own website, he works (or worked) for a company seperate from the rating sbody.

--------------------------------------------------

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Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by chadachada321 - July 9, 2009 at 1:33 pm -0500

Oh. In that case he's screwed, lol

-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by SeanB - July 9, 2009 at 2:19 pm -0500

I don't understand why he would go to these lengths. How would website downtime be an adequate excuse for a lengthy review time?

Unless the ratings board was horribly tied to it's website, which is possible but unlikely.

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by Majutsukai - July 9, 2009 at 2:31 pm -0500

More alarming is the fact that 7400 people actually clicked a link like that.

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by E. Zachary Knight - July 9, 2009 at 2:47 pm -0500

The weakest link in any computer's security is the user.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by Liekos - July 9, 2009 at 4:57 pm -0500

No, it's the user's parents.

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by MechaTama31 - July 9, 2009 at 8:14 pm -0500

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by sirdarkat - July 10, 2009 at 9:53 am -0500

 How dare he How dare he use porn to spread a virus; thats just wrong.  I dont think I will be able to watch porn again without worrying about getting infected I feel so dirty. =P

Re: Company Exec Charged in DOS Hack Attack on Korean ...
Submitted by Airgiod - July 11, 2009 at 12:55 am -0500

I am so very amused by this, not only in that many people actually clicked those links, but because it all happened under the disguise of porn...

Rule number one online: Don't click links advertising any free software. Rule number two: don't complain if you fail to follow rule number one.

Although, I don't get why he'd put in so much effort to cover for why he was delayed... Why not just state that the servers were going through maintenance at that time, or something else just as possible? Why not just tell that unnamed developer that more time was required for ratings, or something else along those lines?

 

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